I know you all are super busy and lots of long threads are being made here and there for ideas to put in the next game. I just wanted to get this quick read of one simple concept out to get the spaghetti to stick to the wall as Jenn Chan has said they are doing at the moment. Bonding through adversity! I think with all the crazy theorizing over the years of what made EQ special I think it just comes down to this simple concept. You pit a harsh 3D world where players have to band together to survive the adversity it = an output of bonding that we have seen with all these EQ stories. Make new ways to make Norrath a place where we all need to band together through the adversity. And in a way where hardcore Raiders, casual players, those who hide and become vendors/tradeskillers can all contribute in the fight to survive in the world of Norrath! With new tech that's come out since 25 years ago, and possibly the AI stuff coming out, make us survive harsh conditions in new ways, not just raids and dungeons but perhaps invasions, economic/trade warfare from NPC's against us the player base. Maybe weather events too? Who knows! With this concept in mind I think awesome ideas can come about for sure! Make us all rally together to overcome it! I hope this is spaghetti that sticks to the wall! cheers!
I do hope they learn from some of their mistakes with EQ. Although, following the AMA, I'm not convinced. They need to move the focus away from group-driven content and diversify. They also need to move away from 'you're in our world now' mindset to something more like 'we're thankful you're here, how can we help?' For many people, the idea of not being able to do anything unless you're grouped isn't going to sell them the game. You will lose out on a lot of initial sales due to this. Nowadays, the younger generation want to be in and playing in seconds, not waiting LFG for a half-hour or so. For us older generation, we may be a bit more forgiving in that aspect, but history has shown that if you don't keep up with the current wave of players and get left behind, the grouping landscape is somewhat bare. You may get initial sales but then many of these players will get frustrated and quit. All that will be left are the ones heavily into guilds (or RL groups) and raids. They will enjoy the game for a while but then wonder why no new players are coming into the game and the developers may see the game plateau. Not even thinking about tradeskills, horizontal/vertical levelling, story, sandbox / themepark, cross-platform etc. I don't know the answer for this - if it was simple, there would be a lot more successful MMORPGs out there than there are the moment. I think it's going to take a brave MMO developer to reboot the genre but I think if someone has the balls to do it and the technical know-how to make it happen, then we'll be swimming in MMOs like it was the 2000s all over again. They may not be the same naive games that they used to be (neither is the MMO community), but it could be the dawning of a new era in MMORPGs.
I don't mean move away from it entirely, just don't base the main aspect of the game on it to the detriment of everything else. The group game doesn't last well once the players start to leave, or people join late. What a lot of people seem to be looking for are single-player / co-op gameplay but set in a MMO world. They like the idea that they could group up with you if they wanted to, but they also like the idea that they don't have to to progress.
How about make EQ3 as an AI game. Instead of playing your toon you just work on coding an AI so they run automatically by themselves. You can login and just watch your toon level and do quest etc automatically. You can manually alter the gear they are wearing to make them stronger or adjust the AI code so it works differently or better over time.
It will be a single-player game that can be played on your phone. EQ3 will be about money, not the EQ legacy. If you think EQ3 will be some grand re-design of the classic MMO, you're naive. Ask yourself a quick and easy question: which game is more popular, EQ or Candy Crush? I'm not talking about the quality of the gaming experience or anything, just who has more paying customers. According to the head of the company, Candy Crush has 9 million players every day. EQ has a few thousand. Now if you're creating a program whose sole intent is to make your company money, which direction are you going? EQ3 will be all about ROI, nothing more. It's all about the Benjamins, baby, and MMOs are no longer the big money-makers they once were. A sad reality, but still reality.
There's clearly a market for difficult games. Whether that translates to an MMO remains to be seen. I wouldn't be sad if they followed Elden Ring's content delivery model.
