Next generation MMO?
In the face of WoW’s declining popularity Sony Online Enter-tainment is bringing back the original MMO, EverQuest in the new game EverQuest Next. The game will bring back the realm of Norrath in a fresh new avatar. With a strong pedigree, exciting new gameplay concepts and a developer of SOE’s calibre the title seems poised to become the next big MMO experience.
The game promises several new game play features. Significant among them would be an unprecedented level of consequence to each player’s actions. Every choice will lead to permanent effects, both on the player’s fate and that of the world at large. In addition the game promises full destructibility, wherein every aspect of the world, from buildings to mountains, even to the ground beneath your feet can be destroyed. The extent and difficulty of such destruction has not yet been explained — yet if this feature works with SOE’s emphasis on permanence of consequences it may revolutionise the way MMO worlds are built.
EverQuest Next is still in the stages of development, yet already SOE is reaching out to the player base to incorporate their ideas. There will soon be a Round Table phase in the development where ideation, feedback and discussion will take place with gamers, allowing Sony to incorporate the gamer's needs and ideas into the framework of the game as it is being built. This will be followed by a beta, along with the release of EverQuest Next Landmark — where players can design objects and buildings that developers can put into EverQuest Next.
However, all this must be taken with a grain of salt. The game is still in the early stages of development, and many games use this period to promise gamers far more than they — or anyone — can deliver. So we have only an expression of SOE’s intent, we have yet to see how it is carried out. However, too many times gamers have been led on to believe that the future is right around the corner and the next generation MMO is here, however, every time they have been left disappointed with same game under a different name. Could this be the one?
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