Everquest Next - Fully destructable everything in a persistent world

S

Silent_Buddha

Legend
https://www.everquestnext.com/

Well, I never thought SoE would be able to get me interested in an Everquest game after they butchered Everquest II after launch by attempting to copy WoW and thus making into an easy rather than challenging MMO, but they managed to get me interested again with EQ Next.

The biggest draw is the fully destructible everything (terrain, buildings, props, vegetation, everything) in a persistent world. If it exists in the world it is destructible. Some things will "regenerate" over time, but some things may remain forever changed. It's exciting to know that you could destroy something, and hours later someone could come along and see the destruction you have wrought.

I am concerned a bit about the potential for griefing this could cause. If it takes too long to "regenerate" destroyed terrain, buildings, etc., then a griefer with a lot of time on their hands could go around ruining a lot of peoples experiences. Anyway, hopefully that doesn't become an issue.

So, fully destructible everything also means that there are multiple layers of explorable content under the surface. Some of which requires you to dig through to them. Some of which is also procedurally generated. And quests can also be procedurally generated (likely pointing to one of those aforementioned underground areas that is generated for the quest).

And not just players can destroy terrain. One of the video segments showed what looks like a Raid Boss destroying a castle that a player had taken refuge in. That's pretty exciting as well. No more finding LoS glitches in order to block all boss attacks making it impossible for the boss to touch the majority of the raiding party.

Another concern is how they are going to do the free to play nature of the game. Being F2P, I'll try it as there is no drawback if I don't like it. But if I like it, hopefully they'll have a decent F2P implementation that doesn't require more than a traditional monthly fee (15-20 USD per month currently) in order to make sure all or most of the game is available.

Regards,
SB
 
How is it we haven't discussed Voxel Farm here at B3D yet? It seems to be achieving a lot of what other implementations have not. And now being used in a full AAA MMO game? That is just incredible what potential we are seeing here.
 
Full destructible anything ... except all instances? I assume this is going to be a world faction linedancing game not a player faction PvP game ala Eve, despite them calling it a sandbox.

PS. Free to Play.

PPS. oh man that art direction is going to get so much hate, WoW meets Guild Wars.
 
MfA said:
PS. Free to Play.
Click to expand...
Isn't everything new F2P these days? Even Blizz seems to have concluded that subs have largely played out their role...

I'm wary of fully destructible "everything" coupled with persistant destruction in a MMO. What's the point of the devs spending time and money designing stuff if it is just going to get torn down in what is probably relatively short order and then stay dead for the rest of the existence of the game...?

It would be lots more interesting if players could not just wreck stuff but also rebuild it. A bit like Minecraft EQ. ;)
 
Grall said:
I'm wary of fully destructible "everything" coupled with persistant destruction in a MMO. What's the point of the devs spending time and money designing stuff if it is just going to get torn down in what is probably relatively short order and then stay dead for the rest of the existence of the game...?
Click to expand...
Presumably it will be rebuild by the NPCs, perhaps in a different place and in a slightly different configuration (procedural generation with building blocks, which could be castle and dungeon sized) to keep it fresh.
 
Looks interesting, but the main reason I left mmo's a long time ago was due to them being too much of a time sink. If they can figure out a way to make it playable for someone like me that may hop in for a quick hour and bail then I'll give it a shot.
 
Grall said:
Isn't everything new F2P these days? Even Blizz seems to have concluded that subs have largely played out their role...

I'm wary of fully destructible "everything" coupled with persistant destruction in a MMO. What's the point of the devs spending time and money designing stuff if it is just going to get torn down in what is probably relatively short order and then stay dead for the rest of the existence of the game...?

It would be lots more interesting if players could not just wreck stuff but also rebuild it. A bit like Minecraft EQ. ;)
Click to expand...

Players will also potentially be involved in building the world via Everquest Landmark.

That's an sandbox game (link is at the Everquest Next site). What players build in there can potentially be included into the actual MMO world (Everquest Next) if SoE finds something particularly noteworthy.

This is your chance to help build a game! Build alone or in groups to create Landmarks. Join massive construction contests and your creations could last forever. The best buildings players create will become permanent fixtures in the EverQuest Next world.
Click to expand...

As to the destruction of in game assets for EQ Next. It's been mentioned that some things will "regenerate" after a certain amount of time while some things may be permanent. I'd imagine the permanent stuff will be event driven and not just some arbitrary thing.

For the procedurally generated stuff underground, that pocket will likely time out after some time and new procedurally generated underground pockets will be created at a different location for exploration or tied to a procedurally generated quest.

I've already mentioned how I'm a little skeptical of how they will handle players with too much time on their hands potentially griefing other players by destroying key locations.

Then again, while it may be easy to dig a hole in the ground, it may be quite difficult to make a dent in a magically protected city/castle/keep. Especially if the lord of said place decides to smack one about if they try. :)

Anyway, I'm cautiously excited about this. I'm really wondering just how well they'll be able to pull it off.

Still it's one of the most exciting things to happen in an MMO in quite a while.

Regards,
SB
 
joker454 said:
Looks interesting, but the main reason I left mmo's a long time ago was due to them being too much of a time sink. If they can figure out a way to make it playable for someone like me that may hop in for a quick hour and bail then I'll give it a shot.
Click to expand...

That's what I currently do in Guild Wars 2 since there are no monthly subscription fees, I don't feel any pressure to actually do something significant when I play. I go in, do what I like, kill a few dragons, maybe run a dungeon and then maybe not play for another 2-3 weeks. :)

Being F2P, I can see myself doing the same for EQ Next. I'll leave the raiding and stuff to others unless I somehow get dragged back into it.

Regards,
SB
 
I love the art, and love what I see, but i have never played an MMO, don't know if it will appeal to me or not.

But definitely looks awesome !
 
Very sceptical about procedural anything in a MMO, because when you have a computer algorithm create stuff, first off it runs risk of looking repetitive; like near-infinite variations of pretty much the same hills and valleys and mountains and whatnot. There's no art direction behind it, no persistent thought, just seed numbers. And second - which I think is worse - since the stuff created procedurally is just random and not persistent, it doesn't actually mean much of anything either. It's there at some point, and then swept away later, and neither what was, nor what is now has any thought or value behind it. It's just seed numbers.

So procedural terrain and whatnot is CLEARLY just a cost-cutting measure. They're having a computer program designing (parts of) their world in a fraction of a second so an expensive team of artists doesn't have to. I can't see myself spending a whole lot of time in a MMO like that, or any time at all actually.
 
Looks fantastic! Persistent destruction sounds incredible. F2P means that this is the first MMO I will give a shot...although I have also time sink fears :)
 
Grall said:
Very sceptical about procedural anything in a MMO, because when you have a computer algorithm create stuff, first off it runs risk of looking repetitive; like near-infinite variations of pretty much the same hills and valleys and mountains and whatnot. There's no art direction behind it, no persistent thought, just seed numbers. And second - which I think is worse - since the stuff created procedurally is just random and not persistent, it doesn't actually mean much of anything either. It's there at some point, and then swept away later, and neither what was, nor what is now has any thought or value behind it. It's just seed numbers.

So procedural terrain and whatnot is CLEARLY just a cost-cutting measure. They're having a computer program designing (parts of) their world in a fraction of a second so an expensive team of artists doesn't have to. I can't see myself spending a whole lot of time in a MMO like that, or any time at all actually.
Click to expand...

The procedural world stuff that has been mentioned has only been for underground areas so far, AFAIK, and only for some of them. Hence why I think they are linked to procedurally generated quests. When the quest expires so does the underground pocket that was created for it.

I believe most if not all of the above ground world is created like a traditional MMO. Along with the major questlines. Although again, it may be that procedural quests will create some quest specific things. An Orc camp, for example. Or a travelling band of gypsies with their wagons. Maybe a wooded site where there has been a large battle has its terrain temporarily deformed and forests burned while the quest is active. Those types of procedural adjustments to the otherwise designed landscape would go a long way towards increasing the "living" feel of a world.

Regards,
SB
 
Silent_Buddha said:
Those types of procedural adjustments to the otherwise designed landscape would go a long way towards increasing the "living" feel of a world.
Click to expand...
Yes, if that is the way procedural stuff is used it would be quite acceptable. If it included random events it would even be beneficial, although that's not really 'procedural', more like...random pre-scripted stuff, I'd say. But, whatever! What works in the end is what counts!

Actual WORLD in world of warcraft is something I've been missing for ages now. There's hardly ever any weather, and when there is, the trees are completely static, whereas a game like LoTRO has had wavy trees since the inception or close to it anyway. It makes a huge difference. Towns in WoW are barely even a few houses in most cases, there are no NPCs just moving about on their daily business, no town market days, no cows being milked, dairy being processed, no crops being harvested, no peddlers and travellers moving along the roads and so on. It's essentially a dead world. You'd think that with all the billions they've pulled in over the years in revenue they could have found a few bucks here or there to spend on stuff like this.
 
Grall said:
Yes, if that is the way procedural stuff is used it would be quite acceptable. If it included random events it would even be beneficial, although that's not really 'procedural', more like...random pre-scripted stuff, I'd say. But, whatever! What works in the end is what counts!

Actual WORLD in world of warcraft is something I've been missing for ages now. There's hardly ever any weather, and when there is, the trees are completely static, whereas a game like LoTRO has had wavy trees since the inception or close to it anyway. It makes a huge difference. Towns in WoW are barely even a few houses in most cases, there are no NPCs just moving about on their daily business, no town market days, no cows being milked, dairy being processed, no crops being harvested, no peddlers and travellers moving along the roads and so on. It's essentially a dead world. You'd think that with all the billions they've pulled in over the years in revenue they could have found a few bucks here or there to spend on stuff like this.
Click to expand...

That's what I miss the most about the Vanguard MMO. You actually had storms, swaying trees, and at the end even volumetric clouds in the sky that changed from white fluffy clouds to dark angry storm clouds. And the storms could make the tree's sway quite violently giving a great illusion of a powerful storm sweeping through the area. Add to that player made housing which looked cool even with the relatively small variety of houses you could make. It was at least 12 different house types in 3 different styles (Medieval, Oriental, and Middle Eastern) along with a castle for each of those types that players could build. It had sailing with again 12 different ship types in those 3 different styles, from a small sloop all the way up to a galleon sized vessel. The ships were all player built as well. It was fun to see a harbor full of player build ships. And flying mounts as well (fairly rare back then, I think WoW was the only other MMO at the time to have flying mounts). Watching players fly their mounts around players sailing their ships was quite the sight. And the world was massive. The entire landmass of WoW could fit in just one area of Vanguard.

Regards,
SB
 
Vanguard also had one of the coolest crafting systems. They were also pioneers of ingame mini-games with their Diplomacy. A lot of great ideas in that game, I miss it.
 
Procedurally generated instances (there's a boss in the woods/mine/anywhere not 100% specific) would be very awesome, making every instance slightly more interesting. Yes, you can make a fantastic looking instance by hand, but does that really matter on your 100th run though? I'd prefer something less sparkly, but new to me, after just a few run throughs.

In Lich King I must have run each instance 1000 times (multiple toons x 2 years). Variation would have been *awesome*.
 
Malo said:
Vanguard also had one of the coolest crafting systems.
Click to expand...
WoW's crafting system is utter shit, and in pandaria they managed to make it even worse by forcing you to grind monsters to loot those bloody harmony motes. It's such a shame, seeing as the game has CRAFTing right in the game title for chrissakes...

I don't know anything about this Vanguard game, but it sounds intriguing. Not that I'd ever leave WoW for something else, though. I'm far too invested by now, and there's a lot of aspects of the game which I still like.

Finally looted a weapon upgrade for my old hunter dorf, by the way. :)
 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Rys
  • Sticky
Hello again
3 4 5
Replies
91
Views
12K
homerdog
homerdog
N
Hellslave (Saturn Homebrew)
Replies
6
Views
4K
Nesh
N
Shifty Geezer
Is current computer architecture a limiting factor in the development of an ideal games machine? *sp
Replies
18
Views
3K
JoeJ
J
BRiT
Torchlight III [XO, PS4, PC, NX]
Replies
0
Views
1K
BRiT
BRiT
digitalwanderer
Putting my PC in a new case with a few upgrades, but...
2 3
Replies
47
Views
8K
digitalwanderer
digitalwanderer
Back
Top