Category: Everquest 2

Happy 4th, EverQuest 2

Sony Online Entertainment today announced that EverQuest II is scheduled for a simultaneous release in North America and Europe on November 8, 2004.

“After more than four years in development, the wait for EverQuest II is almost over,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “We’ve invested heavily on development of the game to ensure that EverQuest II has the highest production values of any online game produced to date. We want to deliver a game to our players that will provide an experience like nothing they’ve ever seen.”

EverQuest II is a parallel online universe to the hugely successful gaming phenomenon EverQuest. Featuring breathtaking graphics and a vast, beautiful game world to explore, EverQuest II sets new standards in graphical realism as players are immersed in the game’s epic storyline with thousands of other players online. Players will encounter more than 160 unique creatures as they journey across the majestic landscape of rolling hills, lush forests, and bustling cities. Thousands of new items, hundreds of magical new spells, and unlimited adventure await all who enter the world of EverQuest II. Choose from 16 races, 100 levels, and 48 classes; own apartments, homes, guild houses, and ships; and log information regarding quests, adventures, encounters, transactions, and more in your in-game journal.

– Ethic

Grouping as the Better Option

Some games require grouping. We hate that, especially when certain classes are required, because you can easily spend half your in-game time looking for group members. Some games encourage soloing. We often like that, but single-player games deliver a much better solo experience. Some games discourage grouping, often as an accident of game mechanics, which is just poor. Some games encourage and reward grouping without requiring it, which is the best of all possible worlds.

I have a very long version with many examples after the break, but that is the core of my message today: encourage grouping, do not require it, and make sure the game mechanics really do encourage it.

You encourage grouping by increasing rewards for groups and adding abilities that require groups to take full advantage of them. You require grouping by giving enemies ridiculous numbers of hit points, failing to scale encounters for different numbers, or making encounters that demand (or all but demand) several specific abilities that are spread across the classes. You discourage grouping by making quests difficult to do together and failing to scale encounters for different numbers. Yes, a lack of scaling can both require and discourage grouping.

Continue reading Grouping as the Better Option

Appearance: Achievement or Individualism?

Can you identify the hardest-to-get weapons in your game? How about the tiers of armor for your class? Can you tell how far someone is into the endgame based on what s/he is wearing? This is the standard item-based model of character (appearance) customization. There may be options to make your orc 5% bulkier or give your elf fourteen shades of blue or green eyes, but it will be covered by equipment anyway. Making yourself look interesting is almost always a result of making yourself powerful, and your appearance suggests your capabilities. The guys in those robes heal, and the guys in those robes blow things up, and the guy in that hat is obviously very experienced. Looking good is a reward worth working for, and it immediately commands the appropriate respect from the knowledgeable (and often wonder from the ignorant).

Or is form radically separate from function? City of Heroes gives you almost all the costume items up front. Norrath and Middle Earth have cosmetic tabs for equipment to cover your mismatched raid gear (a half-measure to let you lock in your favorite achievement-based appearance). In a world where the same gesture might be a sword-slash or a fireball-toss, there is no need to connect how something looks to what it does. This allows the maximum of customization and individualization, and it can come as early as you like. I have seen swordfights somewhere between a feline hominid and a lightsaber-wielding lesbian mermaid slave; spectators included several librarians, someone in an oversized cowboy hat, and a robot-thing with a cow levitating over it. None of these had special abilities.

You can cross the two a bit. Item-based systems have dyes for customization, although the colors can still signify wealth levels. Function-free systems can have unlockable pieces or categories, like City of Heroes auras that are available after level 30, costume sets reserved for long-time subscribers, or weapons that require certain badges (and you can bet I show off my Rikti Axe).

Is one better, or is it a matter of taste? I often enjoy a connection between form and function, such as making the meaner monsters bigger. You can even reverse the two standards: have item-based play that does not affect appearance (like Diablo II sockets or City of Heroes enhancements) or non-item play that ties appearance options to accomplishments.

: Zubon

Yeah, I keep citing City of Heroes here. I have played a few years of it, and its costume designer is still the industry benchmark.

Decorative Armor

Cameron of Random Battle tells us that EQ2 will allow you to wear purely decorative armor, replacing the graphics (but not stats) of the armor you would normally wear. Go for the best stats, but cover it with your favorite look.

Awesome. I am also looking forward to Chronicles of Spellborn’s plan to decouple appearance from stats in equipment. Of course, I am spoiled by City of Heroes, where you can pick your look at any time (but half the powers hide it anyway).

If you are committed to the standard loot-centric model, this is a nice way to work around having everyone look the same. I wonder if it applies to weapons; I have this image of someone using a very fast weapon but showing a huge slow one, so it does the giant hammer swing at lightning dagger speed.

: Zubon

Friday Wanderings

The wife and I are still playing World of Warcraft. We gave Everquest 2 a try, but she really did not care for it. She didn’t like the look of it and she hated all the extra clicks it seems NPC quest givers require. I’d almost say she hated the look of the game to be honest. We went back to WoW, but since I lost any interest in the queue on Doomhammer, we looked for a quieter server and landed on Undermine. We’ll see how long this lasts before we get a queue but so far so good. This time we both started a Night Elf Hunter. As a duo, we are just destroying everything in our path and we don’t even have pets yet.

Of the two beta tests I am in, one of them is collecting dust and the other one just keeps getting more and more enjoyable. Because of this, my time normally spent in EVE Online (which I was playing when the wife didn’t want to play) has dropped to nothing. I think it’s time to take a break from EVE for a while. Not sure if or when I’ll go back, but I’ve lost all desire to play it right now.

Lots of holiday family stuff coming up and also a family vacation, a trip to Disneyworld. Going to be busy for a while. Here’s hoping your holidays bring you lots of joy and good memories!

– Ethic

Defeat Evil Curt Schilling for a Good Cause

Evil Curt Schilling[EverQuest II] On June 5, 6, and 7 the Red Sox will be playing the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. During this same time an evil Curt Schilling will be found in EverQuest II (Schilling’s favorite game apparently). Everytime evil Curt Schilling is taken down, a $5 donation will be made to charity. I don’t play EQ2 and I don’t particulary like the Yankees or Red Sox, but the cause is right.

[Click here for more info on how you too can defeat Curt Schilling.]

EQ2 and Fileplanet, Sitting in a Tree…

eq2[Everquest 2] … K I S S I N G!

Anyway, as much as I don’t care for fileplanet, I worked my “Hey bro can I borrow your FP login?” magic and got myself a free EQ2 trial key. Just need to download it tonight (wonder if I can just add the key to my current Trial of the Isle account). So I guess I’ll be hitting the “real” EQ2 a little sooner than I had expected, and just when EVE Online really has me hooked.

If you want to try EQ2 for free too, it’s here.

17 hour download? Hmm. Not so interested any more…

UPDATE: I tried it again, and it only took 2 hours to download. Wonder what changed.

– Ethic

Trial of the Isle: Fighter

eq2[Everquest 2] Since I was still having video issues, I decided to switch to my second computer which has an FX5900 in it. Got the game copied over and fired it up. No problems at all, wonderful.

I chose a Kerran (which is like a tiger/human). The sonicvision ability in this race was used quite a bit this time, as it was night time. It made it very easy to spot the bad guys. This is the same vision as the Ratonga had.

Continue reading Trial of the Isle: Fighter

Trial of the Isle: Priest

eq2[Everquest 2] These impressions that I am getting of the classes are not really fair, as I assume the first 6 levels are not the defining levels for the class, but given that assumption – I will continue my observations and opinions.

Going back to the scout for a minute, I’m really bummed that the trial did not get me into any of the rogue type of abilities, but then I realized it is a scout and not a rogue at this time. Understanding that, perhaps I did not give scout a fair chance. The ability to track things was actually very cool (pull down menu shows things in the area, select one and a pathway appears before you) and I look forward to trying the class again in the next update.

Continue reading Trial of the Isle: Priest