Everquest Next Expansion
| EverQuest Next | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Daybreak Game Company |
| Publisher(s) | Daybreak Game Company |
| Writer(s) | Steve Danuser |
| Composer(s) | Jeremy Soule |
| Series | EverQuest |
| Engine | Forgelight Engine |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 |
| Release | Cancelled |
| Genre(s) | Massively multiplayer online role-playing game |
EverQuest II's 16th expansion releases this month, over 15 years. Of the new expansion named Blood of Luclin, where it takes players next,.
EverQuest Next was a planned massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), meant to be the successor to EverQuest, EverQuest Online Adventures and EverQuest II. The game was in development by the Daybreak Game Company, but the project was terminated in 2016.[1]
The game was not planned to be a sequel or prequel to any of the games in the EverQuest franchise; it was planned to present to players a 'parallel world' of Norrath, one in which some of the locations and characters may be familiar, but specific relationships and events can diverge from the official storylines of the other games. The developers had stated an intention to return to a style of gameplay more like the original EverQuest, while retaining the advances in MMORPG design that have developed in the years since that game first launched.
Development[edit]
The first indication that a new game was in development appeared in a chapter written by EverQuest creative director Rich Waters in the EverQuest 10th Anniversary Book (2009).[2]
At the Sony Online Entertainment Live 2012 event, John Smedley stated that EverQuest Next has been completely redeveloped, stating 'What we are building is something that we will be very proud to call EverQuest. It will be the largest sandbox style MMO ever designed.. We are remaking Norrath unlike anything you’ve ever seen, but you'll recognize it.'[3] During Sony Online Entertainment Live, John Smedley mentioned that EverQuest Next will attempt to keep the free-to-play model for as long as possible. This means that once a player has purchased the game, they will not be required to pay a subscription fee in order to continue to play.[4]
At PAX East 2013, game developer Dave Georgeson confirmed a full reveal of EverQuest Next on August 2 at SOE Live.[5]EverQuest Next was intended to be subdivided into two segments: a standard, quest-based MMORPG, and a world-building tool called Landmark. John Smedley has said that the best of Landmark's player-made worlds would have been brought into the MMORPG.
On January 31, 2014, EverQuest Next's counterpart Landmark began its official alpha testing phase. Purchasers of the $99.99 Founders Pack or the $59.99 Explorers Pack were allowed into this alpha testing as part of the game developers goal of 'making development a collaborative process'. Landmark began its closed-beta testing on March 26, 2014.
In January 2014, John Smedley confirmed that EverQuest Next would be coming to the PlayStation 4 console.[6]
In February 2014, on Reddit, John Smedley announced that the game would support the Oculus Rift, 'in some way shape or form'[7]
In August 2014, at SOE Live, the EverQuest Next team revealed three new classes: the Tempest, the Cleric and the Elementalist. Brand new combat videos showing off how players work together was also shown at the event.[8]
In June 2015, it was announced that Daybreak shifted the main development focus of the team from Landmark to EverQuest Next.[9]
On March 11, 2016, Daybreak announced development had been discontinued.[10] Daybreak Game Company's president, Russell Shanks, said that 'As we put together the pieces, we found that it wasn't fun.'[11]
On October 16, 2019, during a video interview[12] with Daybreak's Holly Longdale, Holly indirectly confirmed reviving EverQuest Next (or, at minimum, a potential spinoff). However, on March 6, 2020, Holly mutually stepped down as producer,[13] leaving EverQuest Next in a questionable state.
References[edit]
- ^Shanks, Russ (11 March 2016). 'EQN News: A Letter from Daybreak's President'. Daybreak Game Company. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^Tamat (2009-08-13). 'SOE Confirms Development on EverQuest 'Next''. ZAM EverQuest.
- ^'SOE Live 2012 Welcome Reception Notes - EverQuest II News & Commentary'. The EQ2 Wire. 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
- ^Yoon, Andrew. 'Player Studio will be 'backbone' of EverQuest Next's free-to-play economy'. Shacknews.
- ^Pitcher, Jenna (2013-02-07). 'SOE Live 2013 will take place in Las Vegas from Aug 1 to Aug 4, 2013'. Polygon. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
- ^'EverQuest Next Announced For PS4, PlanetSide 2 Update'. IGN.
- ^'EverQuest Next could be the first MMORPG to support the Oculus Rift'. 2014-02-03.
- ^'EverQuest Next New Combat and Classes'. 2014-08-15.
- ^MMOGames [@MMOGames] (8 June 2015). 'The news #EQN fans have been waiting for: Daybreak have shifted their development focus to @everquest_next! #mmorpg' (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^'EQN News: A Letter from Daybreak's President'. Daybreak Game Company. 11 March 2016.
- ^James Vincent (11 March 2016). 'EverQuest Next, the free-to-play MMO, has been canceled because it isn't fun'. The Verge. Vox Media.
- ^The EverQuest Show (2019-10-16). 'The EverQuest Show - Episode 7 - The Holly Longdale Interview'.
- ^Joseph Bradford (2020-03-06). 'mutually stepped down as producer'. mmorpg.com.
External links[edit]
- Official website (archived)
Memory lane is a path fraught with pitfalls, and it’s especially treacherous for video games. Technology moves so fast and players experience so much that memories color the past too fondly. Projects that looked bleeding edge decades ago look primitive now. Titles that were fun seem rather bland now.Video games and our memories of them are trapped in a moment that can never be duplicated. For me, is one of those titles. The massively multiplayer online game helped define the genre, and as a player who began playing near the start of launch, it was exhilarating to see a new category forming before my eyes.“It started a whole bunch of stuff like” “World of Warcraft,” said Alan VanCouvering, assistant lead designer. Before Blizzard’s MMO dominated the genre, “EverQuest” laid the groundwork.
It established an enormous world and class interdependence. Concepts such as tanking and pulling became part of the gaming lexicon.
Even after some MMOs have come and again, the old stalwart has remained constant.Now, Daybreak Game Company is marking “EverQuest’s” 20th anniversary with a series of events and the introduction of Progression Servers. These allow players to re-experience the MMO’s history from the beginning. Starting March 16 and continuing through the next few years, the company’s Selo and Mangler Progression Servers will let gamers check out the game from the start.
OfIt’s a tempting service for longtime fans, but they have to keep in mind that the game won’t be exactly like the original first year when everything was fresh and new. The visuals haven’t aged well, and the game doesn’t have those modern day conveniences that players take for granted.Players can gripe about those quality-of-life issues, but at the same time, it’s partly those problems that lent vanilla “EverQuest” its charm. Some of its onerous peculiarities are inherent to the nostalgia tied to the game. Players weren’t supposed to go through it solo. They had to uncover many of the zones and areas on their own or they could ask a friend. Enemies ramped up in difficulty and it forced players to group together and create strategies to be successful.“It wasn’t supposed to be hard,” VanCouvering said.
“It forced people to play together, become friends and it kept them together.”When it comes to modern MMOs, he said he feels that the concept of discovery has become lost. “You get told where to go,” VanCouvering said. “There’s no need to explore. Marvel future fight guide. There’s a path of least resistance that people follow.”. Although those parts of “EverQuest” are gone, they live on in other games.
The idea of spawn camping allowed players to essentially hangout and created a scarcity for certain items. The introduction of instances ended that practice, but it was a natural way to meet strangers who would later become friends. That same camaraderie shows up in the raid system inThe difficulty and tension in dungeon crawling is comparable to what I feel while playing FromSoftware games like or “EverQuest” may not be as popular as it once was. Some may have even forgotten about it, but I still see elements of that original experience in nearly every game I’ve played. It’s a project that has had a lasting impression and will continue to do for more gamers as it enters its third decade.