EverQuest Next Previews
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EDGE:
The entire game is rendered using voxels, for a start, which allow for fully destructible environments and for players' actions to cause meaningful damage to the landscape. Dynamic combat AI will force rampaging monsters to react when, say, a mage creates an impassible barrier or blows out a bridge. Alterations will be slowly repaired over time, and players won't be able to destroy everything the key city of Qeynos, Georgeson points out, (would be a parking lot in a couple of hours) if players were allowed total freedom but the system adds a sense of responsiveness that isn't present in other RPGs of this type. We're simply not used to the notion that a massive fireball presupposes the existence of a crater.
The basic flow of combat takes cues from the Guild Wars series to allow players to mix and match class and weapon abilities that are unlocked as the world is explored. A parkour-style system has also been implemented, allowing player characters to more realistically vault, slide and tumble around the landscape.
Voxels also allow for substantial procedural generation. While the design and layout of the game's surface world will be creatively managed by SOE, players will be able to dig down into Minecraft-style substrata to participate in dungeon adventures that are generated on the fly. Voxel-based tools will allow players to build the structures they want, but unlike in the majority of building games the player has the freedom to resize the block brush and smooth edges with a bevel tool. It's more Maya than Minecraft.
Ten Ton Hammer:
The Adventurer Class One of the most interesting things Dave Georgeson talked about when we met up with him this past weekend is the fact that your characters in Landmark will actually have a class association. At the start of the game you'll automatically unlock the Adventurer class which will no doubt be most directly associated with your resource gathering and world building efforts, thought could also potentially provide one or more movement skill options.
If you followed the discussion on classes during SOE Live during the Classes panel (you can view the panel in its entirety here), you'll remember that each class in EverQuest Next will have a number of different skill types associated with it. One of these types is focused on movement, and given the nature of travel and core gameplay in Landmark, it won't be too surprising if the Adventurer class comes bundled with a skill or skills of that type. While this wasn't expressly stated by Georgeson, it does seem a logical fit given how players will be able to traverse the entirety of each server or world in Landmark.
Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that anyone who plays Landmark will automatically have the Adventurer class unlocked for their characters to use in EverQuest Next when that game launches. So right from day one you'll have the ability to take advantage of, and get a feel for how the multi-classing system works since you'll not only have your core starting class, but then the Adventurer class to work with as well.
IGN:
The necessity of collecting building materials to feed these projects pushes players out into the world to explore. Here, there'll encounter other player-created environments that they can roam around but not edit, unless give express permission by the plot owner. Players will also be able to locate rare resources that can be used to add a unique feature or flourish to their creations, which can also be packaged up to be exchanged or sold via SOE's Player Studio marketplace.
EverQuest Next Landmark is a giant sandbox then, but it also has strong ties to EverQuest Next. One continent on every world of Landmark will be themed to represent an environment of Next. Michaels hopes that by encouraging competition between budding architects in these themed areas, Sony Online will be able to incentivise players to create content that's of a high enough calibre to feature in its fully-fledged MMO, EverQuest Next.
([EverQuest Next] will be the first game ever to launch with user generated content and market share,) says Michaels. (Of course, we're not counting on our players to help is make the game, we have a dedicated team that will make a MMO, but if we can engage our players in the way what we can create will be much greater than what we can create on our own.)
