Upcoming titles (Everquest 2, WoW etc)

Nick · Post by **Nick** » August 13, 2003, 9:09 pm

EQ2 mainly. Any thoughts and opinions on this people? I'm sure you are all looking forward to another 5/6 years in the 'wonderful' world of Norrath.

What are your plans, if any? To go to WoW, EQ 2, dare I say it even SWG?

Personally I would play it just to see Norrath look that damn good and with lots of other cool aspects, plus the social aspect of the first one....

World Of Warcraft looks pretty tasty too...

Zygar_ Cthulhukin · Post by **Zygar_ Cthulhukin** » August 13, 2003, 9:24 pm

Damn, I misread....thought it was upcoming titties.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » August 13, 2003, 9:27 pm

Why didn't I post about upcoming titties, that would be much more interesting.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » August 13, 2003, 10:10 pm

Very likely I'll be going to EQ2, one way or another.
Looking forward to it in a big way.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » August 13, 2003, 11:02 pm

EQ2 looks pretty good graphically. However I think they are taking it in a direction opposed to what made the first EQ so popular. Relying on item crafting to get the best lewts is pretty much the antithesis of EQ, and I think the "kill shit, loot sword" mentality that dominates the game is mostly why it is such a popular title. There's so many tiny penises on the internet that get their strokeoffs by having the best items and shit on their server that not repeating that type of gameplay is silly.

I also will not buy it if they go ahead with item decay. Fuck you Sony, nobody fucking wants item decay. For once in your entire long history of completely ignoring your customer base please pay attention and get rid of item decay. Unlinked banks are also a stupid idea.

I really like the star wars galaxies engine though. The models and motion captured animations look great, and I love some of the effects like critters catching fire when you cast a fireball spell on them.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » August 13, 2003, 11:15 pm

here is a question, is EQ2 going to come complete with all the Kunark, Velious, yadda yadda continents and planes? Or are those already in the works expansions in which you will have to spend even more money on?

So when you buy EQ2 out of the box all you get are the 2 main continents and the Erudite island?

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » August 13, 2003, 11:22 pm

kunark would be fun to see

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » August 13, 2003, 11:27 pm

I think it will have a lot of old world and Kunark. I don't know about Velious. I do know the main thrust of the storyline is that Luclin exploded and showered a bunch of fragments down onto the planet in some kind of apocalypse. In the movie I watched you can actually look up and see the remains of the moon in the sky.

Velious was never really colonized so they could easily make up some lame excuse like the dragons booted everyone off or some bullshit.

noel · Post by **noel** » August 13, 2003, 11:29 pm

kyoukan wrote:I think it will have a lot of old world and Kunark. I don't know about Velious. I do know the main thrust of the storyline is that Luclin exploded and showered a bunch of fragments down onto the planet in some kind of apocalypse. In the movie I watched you can actually look up and see the remains of the moon in the sky.

Velious was never really colonized so they could easily make up some lame excuse like the dragons booted everyone off or some bullshit.

The kind of funny sidenote to the Luclin portion of the plot is... You can no longer be a Vah'Shiir, but you can be a Kerran.

/boggle

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » August 13, 2003, 11:30 pm

still weapon decay? fuck that asshole, but i do think i wanna casually play a new mmorpg...but everquest 2 in my mind just sounds like starting EQ all over again, a lvl 1 xzion would suck ass, but a lvl 1 rastafarien troll berzerkernamed xzion would be pretty cool

Laliana · Post by **Laliana** » August 14, 2003, 1:39 am

Zygar_ Cthulhukin wrote:Damn, I misread....thought it was upcoming titties.

I thought the same thing at first glance.

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » August 14, 2003, 10:12 am

Yea item decay will suck.

Woo Hoo we just killed uber_baddie_01. We are so leet. Ah shit my bloodfrenzy just broke. Anyone got a spare bloodfrenzy?

Trias · Post by **Trias** » August 14, 2003, 1:31 pm

you'll be able to repair shit on the fly...

isn't half as bad as you may be perceiving it to be

Trias · Post by **Trias** » August 14, 2003, 1:31 pm

i'm gonna play, you can own a boat!

i will pvp you on my boat!!1111!1oneone

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » August 14, 2003, 1:45 pm

Personally I'm not too worried about the decay and I'm planning on playing EverQuest 2 just to see the graphics and visit the old places. With my workload and son I doubt I'll ever get to play like I did in EQ but I think it will still be fun...

I'm NOT playing SWG... wanted too... until they started messing it up...

World of Warcraft? I've purchased every Blizzard game since the old Blackthorn and Lost Vikings for the SNES. Like I bought the collectors of WarCraft, I LOVED the game but haven't enjoyed the Multiplayer like I did StarCraft. Still worth purchasing though and I was actually playing Diablo II last night, still love that game for mindless hack and slash. Blizzard makes good games, always worth a least a purchase and trial. They are the only company I feel that way about beside ID.

Marb

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 14, 2003, 2:15 pm

SOE gets no more of my money. EQ was fun for a lot of years, but EQ2 looks like they're moving away from the features that made the original great. Item decay blows, and while more emphasis on player crafting looks good on paper, the system that's evolved in EQ doesn't give me much faith in SOE's ability to get it right in EQ2. I also forsee more vast, barren expanses that you have to spend 2 hours running through to get to Quest_MOB_X, just like in SWG.

WoW looks really promising. I'm still iffy on their plan for item decay (most item decay, but there are some "artifacts" that don't), and we'll see how the tradeskills web together. The graphics make me all squishy, but I've always liked the Blizzard look.

I've posted these before, but just to reiterate:

Here we see Dorf McForager has located the bush he needs.

And here we see him fucking bend down and pick up the fruit.

It's the attention to details like that which get me most excited about WoW.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 14, 2003, 2:22 pm

Even if EQ2 totally blows I'll be buying it to check out the graphics for a month or two.

I hope they don't copy AO and have the sense to go with /cherokee instead of /apache.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » August 14, 2003, 4:01 pm

I'm actually pretty interested in WoW....I can't say that I'm all that excited about EQ2...i'd rather keep playing EQ1 than start over again.

and Major Tom is awaiting CoH.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » August 15, 2003, 9:37 am

As mentioned above, no more games by SOE. Period. Actually, no more online games period. It's nice being able to plug a PS2 game in, play it, save it, turn it off. All without worrying about a 6 hour raid of dozens of deaths.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » August 15, 2003, 10:35 am

EQ2 will be the original world, Odus, Antonica, Faydwer. No Kunark, Velious, Luclin, etc. Who knows about shit like Broken Skull or the new "lost" dungeons. They've said the world, those 3 continents, will be 50% "revisited" places, and 50% all new areas. All the old stuff will still be new, as in newly modelled, etc, just more fleshed out. I'm looking forward to EQ2, hopefully they'll do a good job on the gameplay. The graphics are great so far, screenshots don't do it justice.

I'm also looking forward to WoW. I'm a fan of the game, the world, and most of all the artistic style they've developed for the Warcraft world. The game looks absolutely beautiful. Once again tho, it all will come down to the gameplay which we're pretty in the dark about. I'm a little afraid of Blizzard and a longterm game. Their previous games have all been the kind that are fun for a few weeks, then you just don't have any urge to play anymore.

Cotto · Post by **Cotto** » August 15, 2003, 1:15 pm

I r going to WoW.
but I have a tiny penix so <shrug>

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » August 15, 2003, 1:19 pm

Battelfield Vietnam is teh win.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » August 15, 2003, 4:18 pm

Dregor Thule wrote:EQ2 will be the original world, Odus, Antonica, Faydwer. No Kunark, Velious, Luclin, etc.

There's iksar tho. Where they gonna start?

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 15, 2003, 4:23 pm

kyoukan wrote:
Dregor Thule wrote:EQ2 will be the original world, Odus, Antonica, Faydwer. No Kunark, Velious, Luclin, etc.
There's iksar tho. Where they gonna start?

In Grobb. Worked for the Frogloks, right?

Ajran · Post by **Ajran** » August 15, 2003, 4:48 pm

The plot i have heard so far is that the militia takes over freeport and kicks the paladins out who set up a new base of operations in the oasis of Marr.. Freeport basically becomes the starting city for the iksar from what i recall..

not sure where i remember reading that but if i can find it i'll toss a link up..

-Ajran

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » August 15, 2003, 5:35 pm

Teh Iksars will create a new city using Advanced Iksar Technology.

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » August 17, 2003, 11:28 pm

I'm going to give EQ2 a try. But I'm going to be uber casual gamer this time.

As for item decay....you can repair items as the other guy stated. In the PS2 version of EQ it was semi costly as a newbie, but....not that big of a deal and it kept inflation down from what I could tell.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » August 18, 2003, 8:26 pm

I would like to beta test WoW if I can get in. (i.e. if I effectively "win the lottery" of applicants

)

I may grudgingly have a look at EQ2, but I will have to find something really special to balance my loathing for the company that is making it to stick with it.

I will probably purchase a copy of a few others like Dragon Empires, Horizons, etc, just to have a look at what the game looks like. Dragon Empires looks as though it will have some awe-inspiring graphics which may be worth the cost just to walk around a few times in.

WoW is my first choice at this point as I like everything that I have read, the game is not being made by SOE, the game is being made by Blizzard, and I am all for the more stylized graphics. (which I incidentally think will age much better than the EQ2 graphics)

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » August 18, 2003, 9:31 pm

WoW will have item decay too?

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » August 18, 2003, 10:13 pm

I'm excited about WoW. Ive loved all the Warcraft games and I love the world it's based in. Can't wait for this one. Hoping to get in Beta.

Moongrinn · Post by **Moongrinn** » August 18, 2003, 10:15 pm

I am looking forward to EQ2, EQ1 was worn to shit by SoE, but hey, its not their game, and they needed the money to create one of their own. Understandable. Now they are, and now they can use their coding and scripts rather than try and add on to the existing one. Even though EQ is going downhill, remember its still arguably the best MMORPG to date. Even in its fifth year its still the number one contender.Which is probably very hard to add on to. Still it doesnt seem to have a problem stomping every MMORPG that came out since its realease.

(/laughs at Neverwinter Nights, /Laughs at AC2, /Laughs at that one game....cant remember name, something about the Rolling30s)

Gumurok · Post by **Gumurok** » August 18, 2003, 10:23 pm

WoW is going to own all, i think its going to blow EverQuest even out of the water.. Eq2 looks like its going to blow so much ass it wouldnt even be funny, like, if there was an ass blowing contest, EQ2 would win, flawless victory. SWG is just the most homosexual MMORPG ive ever seen, friend got it, and i slapped him and threw his game box down the stairs. nuff said

Gumurok · Post by **Gumurok** » August 18, 2003, 10:25 pm

oh ya, i quit Dark age of camelot for EverQuest for like a few months, cuz i was frustrated. and the item decay and weapon decay made me so frustrated, DAoC would actually be a very good contender with everquest if it wasnt for the items rotting.

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » August 19, 2003, 1:42 pm

EQ2 can't blow ass.

EQ2 is basically EQ1 with a new graphics engine, new zones, and a few changes to the interface. Much of the game mechanics will probably remain the same. The races will be the same, the classes, the spells...sure there will be a good portion of changes, but those changes will be made knowing the old system was fairly well balanced.

I mean yeah snare, sow, slow, and CH will probably all be adjusted....but most of the rest will remain the same. Maybe some more revisions to mez and charm.

Blizzards system is based on nothing relevant. I mean there is no previous balance work done etc...

Remember early EQ? Rogues were useless and Druids were gods? Expect to see similar issues in WoW. I mean sure they *might* fix it quicker, but Blizzard has never struck me as a fast mover.

I don't think WoW will blow EQ2 out of the water. I think EQ2 will be the winning team. No whether it's a marginal victory or a landslide, I dunno yet.

/Wave
Ultima Online 1 & 2
Dark Ages of Camelot
Asherons Call 1 & 2
Anarchy Online
Star Wars Galaxy
Neverwinter Nights

And numerous others that didn't even make blips on the radar....

I think WoW will be the first serious threat to thier market share, but I don't think it's going to be devastating.

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » August 19, 2003, 1:44 pm

I am mostly excited about Gran Turismo 4 and SSX3.

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » August 19, 2003, 3:41 pm

Pils, don't forget the likelyhood that Blizzard will put an order of magnitude or greater into the intial developement of WoW than Verant did with EQ.

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » August 19, 2003, 4:21 pm

That's a joke right?

Blizzard has always done things half-assed.

Diablo 2 was like 1 1/2 years late from the original release date they set. It was not much different from diablo 1. Go to a blizzard forum and see how ling they have been promising the last patch for Diablo I think it's 1.110 or so....I think I heard they have been promising it every month for approx 6 months now. Is patch 1.110 that high of a number? I mean Diablo has been out forever.

Yeah Blizzard is really proactive in fixing things and doing them right in the first place. I remember when I installed Diablo 2....it was even more messed up then EQ1 was on the first day of release.

But if you put all that aside...and ignore the fact they have no relevant experience with MMORPGs, or customer service.

Then you come down to the fact that SoE's expenditure ont he original EQ is meaningless because it did blow all the competition away for several years....all of it. There was no competition. And that initial expenditure can all be accounted as R&D expeditures on EQ2....if you want to go by funding alone.

Don't take this as a flame. I'm not saying WoW will suck, I'm saying it will be pretty hard for it to by-pass EQ2 if you look at the facts. It's just we have a lot of people posting about how WoW will be great, with very little information to go on...it's skewing peoples opinions in a big way.

At initial release WoW can rely an the nice press it's been getting on fan sites, but in the end they have to do a lot better then I have seen them do in the past to keep those subscribers from switching back to EQ or going to EQ2.

Blizzard's past history is worse then SoE's. And they have less experience in this genre. Those are the facts.

Now I will admit, I would be willing to give WoW a try, but I think I have more realistic expectations of the game. There simply isn't a whole lot more you can do to EQ to make it better without causing different new problems. And EQ2 is meant to address those features EQ1 is lacking. So while healthy competition is possible, I don't think WoW could even possibly stomp SoE into the dust like some people believe will happen.

Out of all the game publishers out there though, Blizzard is one of the few I think that has a chance to pull an MMORPG off that will compete.

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » August 19, 2003, 4:28 pm

Blizzard North (in Redwood City) did Diablo II.
WoW is being developed in the SoCal Blizzard, the same folks who did Warcraft. They are NOT the same.

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » August 19, 2003, 5:06 pm

OK, that's a good point.

Warcraft has done better than Diablo. I still think the best we can have is a really healthy competition though. It's just too hard to dethrone something like EQ2 on your first try when they have worked on it for so many years.

I mean this isn't even really EQ2...because you have Kunark, Velious, Luclin, Planes of Power, Legacy of the Yakesha, Dungeons of Norrath....EQ-PS2, EQ-PS2-Frontiers...

They have invested a lot of man hours into finding out what works and what doesn't. And although they haven't always learned as fast as we would like them too, they did learn from thier mistakes.

And I'm sure Blizzard learned some from SoE's mistakes as well, I just don't think they could have possibly learned as much as they would have if they did it first hand.

Moongrinn · Post by **Moongrinn** » August 19, 2003, 7:53 pm

Funding alone makes me feel EQ2 will come out on top (note im probably not going to end up playing either). EQ2 will be funded by all the reserve from everquest monthly fees, the last 3(4 if you want to count LDoN). Maybe a lil extra if you want to figure in the suckers that went for SWG. All this will be funded into one game. Blizzard on the other hand has no monthly fees, and spent a majority of their money to create warcraft3. I'm kind of expected some kiddy style drawings, maybe even a rip off of real life culture into the game because original ideas are just too hard. Example Most skills, spells, and units were fancy dupes of WC2;Most items were revised D&D, and EQ items; and mostly anything that was remotely original came from, this is a shocker, former EQ designers.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » August 19, 2003, 10:15 pm

kyoukan wrote:
Dregor Thule wrote:EQ2 will be the original world, Odus, Antonica, Faydwer. No Kunark, Velious, Luclin, etc.
There's iksar tho. Where they gonna start?

They start in FP. Freeports been completely overrun by Lucan's forces and is now a harbor for all things evil. Qeynos is the bastion for good. I'm not positive if those are going to be the only 2 starting cities, and if so what about all the other cities, but we'll see. Slaughtering in Rivervale.. hmmmmmmmm.

Moongrinn · Post by **Moongrinn** » August 20, 2003, 1:15 am

heh, on that note, im quite curious what is to happen to Highkeep.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 20, 2003, 2:56 pm

NWN isn't an MMOG. It's D&D on the computer. Yes, you can play it online. Much like pen and paper D&D, the modules are what make it fun.

Lexien · Post by **Lexien** » August 20, 2003, 3:46 pm

http://www.middle-earthonline.com/index ... alkthrough

I'm looking forward to this!

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » August 20, 2003, 4:06 pm

Moongrinn wrote:Funding alone makes me feel EQ2 will come out on top (note im probably not going to end up playing either). EQ2 will be funded by all the reserve from everquest monthly fees, the last 3(4 if you want to count LDoN). Maybe a lil extra if you want to figure in the suckers that went for SWG. All this will be funded into one game. Blizzard on the other hand has no monthly fees, and spent a majority of their money to create warcraft3. I'm kind of expected some kiddy style drawings, maybe even a rip off of real life culture into the game because original ideas are just too hard. Example Most skills, spells, and units were fancy dupes of WC2;Most items were revised D&D, and EQ items; and mostly anything that was remotely original came from, this is a shocker, former EQ designers.

uhh...this is still SOE doing EQ2.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » August 20, 2003, 5:46 pm

I'm in beta currently for a game that was destined to be vaporware...or so was said, heh...

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » August 20, 2003, 6:28 pm

Dregor Thule wrote:There's iksar tho. Where they gonna start?

They start in FP. Freeports been completely overrun by Lucan's forces and is now a harbor for all things evil. Qeynos is the bastion for good.[/quote]

what?

didn't anyone tell SOE that I killed Lucan?

WERE HAVING SOME CONTINUITY ISSUES

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 20, 2003, 7:24 pm

kyoukan wrote:
WERE HAVING SOME CONTINUITY ISSUES

Nick · Post by **Nick** » August 20, 2003, 7:32 pm

wow, outta nowhere.

Pilsburry · Post by **Pilsburry** » August 21, 2003, 11:21 am

I forget is this taking place after or before EQ1?

Either way Lucan can still be alive, he was undead as you know.