"One of our biggest lessons is that all an EverQuest player cares about is power," says Longdale. " Why does this comment not really surprise me ?
Because in the end it's still just a game like any other. People play to to win not to go sight seeing in some virtual world.
All of the long-standing MMOs are top-heavy, EQ is no different from the rest in that regard. New expansion content is always going to be focused on endgame, that's what I assume Holly meant by her "power" reference. There is more going on in EQ for the benefit of lower-level players than I see in other well-known MMOs, however, by virtue of how the TLPs have evolved; unfortunately some of that (read: various AoCs) has yet to make its way to live servers. My gut keeps telling me that EQ3, if and when it appears, will be a cross-platform thing with touch support and a size and scope similar to Classic. It's the obvious place where the IP can still generate a new revenue stream.
I'm glad you brought this up, I had forgotten about this article. I had dismissed it, but with it now being the future, we know the Planetside information in that article was correct. Makes a person wonder...
If only DBG could think of just re-skinning EQ, use a modern 3D engine... then just relaunch it using the TLP template! Make it work exactly like the original game, down to the same play style, quests, maps, zones, & game mechanics. They already have the EQ-next engine, why not use that? Call it "Everquest: Remastered". Blizz is releasing Warcraft 3 remastered, I'm positive it'll be a hit... why not do the same thing?
Speaking for myself, this is one of the last places I'd like to see them devote dev resources. I don't play EQ for the "wow" graphics. I play it for the immersion, and complexity, and nostalgia. I'd rather see them tackle things from the 60+ page QOL thread. There are some really great ideas in there.
As an oldschool & current EQ player, I agree with you on this. However, if you look at the Facebook thread regarding this article, there are a lot of retired EQ players that want a re-skin, & would only consider re-subbing if EQ gets a modern look. If DBG wants to bring thousands of players back, and appeal to new ones, then a re-skin is a logical solution.
Does Holly legitimately not know that Fippy, Vulak, and the Combine servers existed? Is that why they keep making the same mistakes of releasing twice as many servers at launch than is needed and one ends up a ghost town after half a year?
I found that very odd as well. Sleeper/Combine holds some of my best EQ memories, not to mention the top guild from them is ROI, who went on to become #1 live. Fippy and Vulak were also very popular.
My 7 and 9 year old started the tutorial last weekend, they don’t care about gfx, they grew up on Minecraft etc. The 9 y o is loving the gameplay. I did not introduce the 15 y one in time, which is a pity, he now plays PS4 crap... looks fantastic, but no depth...
