Should there be multiple starting areas?

I voted multiple areas and, to me, even this counts as multiple. If the story can believably back up the reason we all start relatively close to each other then I'm down. I imagine that as the story develops and players and npcs spread across the continent major cities for each race/group/etc. will develop, and so long as I/my character has been able to belong to a group the entire time and been a part of the story then I'll be happy.

I'm with a lot of other comments: Fit it with the lore! If we really are fresh off the boat, then it makes sense we'd all be in the same general area. Use rallying calls to set up new hubs, which in turn act as new starting areas as well. Thanks to the emergent AI, the areas SHOULD be safe for new characters, as mobs will generally avoid the area after being massacred each time they try to enter.

Steve Danuser
Starting areas give contest and variety to the races in the world. How many the game needs depends on the story it's telling.

I like what Steve says here, but I think it could be a bit more complex than that. First of all, rally calls are going to be an open public event. Now, unless everyone is going to be forced to do the same public event, I am calling it here thath there will be more than one rally call going on at the same time, and their could even be conflicting rally calls going on at the same time.. or even multiple conflicting rally calls. They can be based on faction, race, religion, or any combination of the three. Do this and the epic just gets epicer.

hmm very interesting taking the ever changing world in consideration
Perhaps the option to"no everybody should start in same area" is not so bad after all haha
All starting from the same place,off to different adventures

And starting places might change constantly later on
based on the cities that rise and fall

*edit* I was replying to: "EQNext Landmark has multiple starting areas. EQNext has one starting city.
Guess I will have to pull the quote sooner rather than later."


This is what I was referring to:

"But for EQ Next, new players will be dropped in the area of the current Rallying Call. This is so new players can become a part of the action immediately, as well well as be among other players."

That's a quote from Dave and the source is: http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/0...book-quips-quotes-and-eq-next-tidbits-from-s/


Tho I don't see the person quoted here that I was replying to so this may seem out of no where...

Reply tells me it will quote the person I am replying to but that is not happening nor do I have any other options to reply. I didn't remember the entire quote properly but being dropped into RC's <> one starting city/area.

Well, one has to wonder why they did the current round table poll when this answer exist. Unless, they intend to have simultaneous rallying calls (and split new players based on those).

Thanks by the way Dygz, always the repository of knowledge.

I would like to see just two choices.

If I understand the lore correctly, the Combine has just left Kunark to return to the old world.

I am vary biased. I am an Iksar, I earned my scales on Kunark, roughly 800 years in the future from what I gather is the starting time of Next.

800 years from now my city was in a ruin, my culture had been enslaved yes, but we drove them snakes to the moon with the shadowknights greenmist. Our city was a ruin then. We had an empire after we drove them off to rival that of any other race, almost all of Kunark was ours. There was that minor detail with that dragon Trak taking over Sebilis. but we rebuilt New Sebilis or Cabilis as the softskins called it.

Let me start at the rallying call to build New Sebilis.

I am more tied to the race of my character than his class or profession.
I want to build that city that falls into ruin in eq1 where that Ssisal started.
I don't Want the Iksar Empire to fall, I am one of the first ive seen that has started an only Iksar guild.
I know there are others that feel as deeply as I do for the races of their characters. let the elves build their cities, dwarfs theirs, let the combine settle in Qeynos where all races are welcome, reguardless of if we choose to start at our racial cities or there. IF we don't start in Qeynos we will have to reprove ourselves to the combine to be welcome. but it shouldn't be an epic task unless we went to war with them.

Definitely for multiple starting areas dependent on race. Remember back when you started EQ? I do, I was a Halfling, and loved starting in Rivervale, logging in and being there, going back there to rest/relax, get spells ect, it was special, our town, once they got too many expansions and you all started in the same place, it ruined the experience, the felling of "Home", also made lag having everyone in same boring spot, plus every race had there own starting areas to hunt, less competition for kills etc.

I wouldn't dare calling that multiple starting areas. I have always assumed that Qeynos would have at least designated areas for each of the Combine races.

In my opinion multiple starting areas will just mean that multiple starting areas which aren't exactly near each other.

I do have to question Sony again with the question asked. I thought that at the start of the game the Combine races will have just landed on the continent of their ancestors. With the Emergent AI I had the hope that this would mean that civilization of the Combine can initially only be found near Qeynos with the frontier being pushed back further with new towns being built while we are playing in the days, weeks and months after release. If the lore was different and the races of the Combine never had to flee Amaril then separate cities for all the races would have made sense but less so after 500 years in slavery and 100 years of issues with the Iskar on Kunark which has led to the Combine wanting to go back to Amaril.

As is typical of the Round Table Questions, notice there are 3 options for some variety of yes multiple starting areas and 1 option for just one starting location. So the plurality/majority/dev answer
pretty much has to be yes.

There should be different starting areas. This would be very helpful to the launch of the game. A lot of times the starting area becomes to crowded and lags out, even if you have a super computer ;p

I want hybrid races to start off in slums or places like "Haven" in eq2.

Half-Ogre+Dark Elf
Half-Ogre+Elf
Half-Ogre+Human
Half Human+Elf
Half Human+Dark Elf
Half Gnome+Human
Halfling+Human

I want hybrid races, they were an amazing feature in Star Trek Online, being able to make your own "Hybrid" race

Norrath is a big place!

Reading the story of the Combine Army and the war with the Dragons, one starting area would be in good order with EverQuest Next.


The Combine Army and Refugees should have starting area where ethnic culture and social status is vivid and distinct. Every breed of player should have at least two stories to follow with by preferred class and or preferred race. The origin point of the Combine Army should effect two stories one by race and one by class. Other complex stories should stand alone with only the war with the dragons as the focus.

As we will be finding our own path with story teller and guild events, I think we can enjoy one starting area with sophisticated stories and factions of a refugee army.

A common refugee experience to emote the launch of EQN will never be the same again after the first day? EQN will only be new one day, just one day. With the elements we get from EQNL, we will expand EQN faster than any game that SOE has put forward before.

After the first day of EQN somebody will always be on the frontiers of Norrath.

Norrath is a big place! Thank goodness for the Trailblazers.

I am always open to anything, however it was always fun to run a really oddball race to a different starting area. You always got noticed and lots of social fun! <3

I think it'd be neat to have a diverse array of race/class combinations in the various starting areas but at the same time I do appreciate the adventure in trying to meet up with your friends without dying! lol

I want Multi-Races in EQNext.

I like playing alts so for me have some options when starting a new one always helps.

I agree but shouldn't they have thought about this before creating the lore? It doesn't make any sense for the lore to be about all of the Combine races landing on the old world where the frontierstown of Qeynos will be built to them now all of the sudden giving us multiple starting areas? In order to be lag free they would need to be a decent amount away from each other which would mean the current lore already has to be rewritten.

The poll also doesn't make sense if you think about Sony's own statement concerning new players automatically starting in the area of the latest Rallying Call. So once again we have a poll which conflicts with earlier statements if they truly want to take our feedback into account.

Currently it only really makes sense for the Teir'Dal to start in a different city.

yea guess i'll stick with one of those 3,always go for the first thought haha
I like the idea that when cities rise and fall starting area's change
perhaps it can be part of a character's story
able to say you started in a town that is no more at least

I have been looking forward to this poll so much. I would LOVE to see multiple starting areas based on race and not simply for nostalgia reasons because "that's the way EQ1 did it." It is a feature that not many games have these days because its "easier" to just have one. If EQN truly wants to stand out, I think that would include having several starting areas. The devs have said they want to make the world feel big. This is part of that. It also makes the world feel more real and alive -- it makes your starting city feel much more like a home. Logically, it makes no sense to have everyone piled into one area. It is just a crowded mess. To me, it makes the game feel really cheap. I know they want players of different races to be able to group up and play with each other without having to go all the way around the world. But there are plenty of other ways to solve that other than just throwing everyone into the same lobby.

Plus, going and killing the guards of an opposing city is/was fun!

At the very least, have two primary cities: one for the good races, one for the evil races.

Personally, however, I would much prefer each race to have their own starting city or perhaps some races such as Half-Elves or Humans would be able to choose between two or three. It's really sad to see old EQ starting cities empty now that CR is pretty much the only starting city.