Last weekend a group of us traveled to San Diego to meet with the developers of Everquest Online Adventures and get answers to questions ranging from their goals for creating the game to their vision of the game’s future. Below is what I learned. Creation When Sony decided to bring Everquest to the Playstation 2, they realized that they were dealing with a different sort of gamer than the average Everquest player. As I pointed out in my earlier review of the game, this game is a console game from design and is meant to appeal to console gamers rather than PC gamers. In general, console gaming is more fast paced than PC gaming, and console gamers expect to have shorter, more intense periods of game play. PC games are played sitting up at the computer while console games are played lying down on the couch. This creates a different atmosphere and encourages a different style of play. They knew that the slower, more strategy oriented pace of Everquest would likely not be popular on the PS2, so they set out to eliminate many of the elements of EQ that slowed the game down, but at the same time, they wanted to retain the grouping and exploration elements that help make it so much fun. One way they did this was by streamlining the classes. While in Everquest each of the classes is unique and is pretty easy to distinguish, they decided to break the classes into four main categories in EQOA, and give them variations within each category that would not take away from the basic nature of that category’s function in a group battle. The groups were tank, whose job is to absorb damage, melee, whose job is to dish out damage close in, caster, whose job is to dish out damage from far away, and priest, whose job is to heal and cure. The goal was to make it so that a group with one of each of the four categories, no matter which class, would be strong enough to handle anything within a few levels of the group. When I asked about whether they were concerned that certain classes would be better at their category function than others, and thus would find themselves more popular for grouping, they stated that they had attempted to balance the classes so that they would all be the same for that main function, but would have differences in the secondary skills they can bring to the table. Thus, all tanks should be able to absorb the same amount of punishment, but the other things they can do for the group will vary from class to class. Because of this, the hope was that groups looking for new members would be happy with any of the classes in the category they were missing. If this is missing in the execution, they still have the ability to tweak certain classes to improve the balance between them. Part of the reason for this four category concept as well was the hope that groups would be easy to create and change on the fly. While they wanted to make it possible for all the classes to solo all the way up to level 50, they also wanted to encourage group play, since it is the grouping aspect that distinguishes a MMORPG from a single player game. To do this, they made the experience level change as you grouped up so that you would get the same amount of experience per kill in a group as you would if you killed the mob solo. The idea was that since you could kill much higher level mobs in a group, you would end up leveling faster and getting better loot, thus encouraging the players to join a group as soon as they could to get the most experience out of their play session. This, they hoped, would combine with the four category concept to make it very easy for players to create groups on the fly and to quickly replace group players who log out with new players. Basically on one hand groups would always welcome another member as it only made them stronger and didn’t hurt them for experience, and would not be overly picky as to the classes of their members as the classes didn’t vary so significantly as in EQ, and on the other hand players would be glad to join any group since they were bound to gain experience faster in a group rather than on their own. They also made changes in how the loot was done in EQOA as opposed to EQ. The most obvious change is the level limits on equipment. This prevents twinking. The other change was to randomly distribute the loot over a specific region rather than placing it on specific mobs, with an exception for boss mobs who would get their own loot table. There are thus five categories of loot drops in the game. Knowing how these drops work will make it easier to figure out where and how to get things. The first type of loot is the specific drop on a boss mob. Certain rare named mobs have their own specific loot table with specific common and rare drops. While it seems similar, this does differ from how EQ handles this type of loot. In Everquest, you could often kill a named mob over and over and not get anything. However, in EQOA, they wanted to make sure that the named mob would always drop something of interest, so you will almost always get at least the common drop from him. It will take more time and probably multiple kills if you want to get his rare drop. The second through fifth categories of loot are all regional-specific and level-specific, with some being available anywhere in the game. These were described as ultra rare, rare, uncommon and common. Basically, once you are in a region where a certain type of loot can drop, it will likely drop off of anything that spawns in that area in accordance with its level and rarity. I say likely because there are apparently some exceptions to this rule, with some items dropping off only a specific mob type. Moreover, some of the more basic loot will drop pretty much anywhere in the game. This means that snakes and rats are just as likely to drop magic items appropriate to their level as are orcs and gnolls. It was hoped that this would cut down on the fight for specific camp sites. As with Everquest, the best loot in the game tends to drop in dungeons rather than outdoors. Stats are also treated differently in EQOA. For one thing, they really matter. Your stats make a significant difference in all aspects of your game play. Because you get to add to your stats as you go up in level and because the stats will definitely affect your attack and defense capabilities, players are expected to develop a strategy around character’s growth and not just throw the stats into a single easy to define area. Expansion So where is the game going? I was surprised to learn that they do not feel limited in what they can add to the game by the lack of a hard drive. The biggest limitation the PS2 gives them is that it eliminates any real artistic and graphical additions. Thus, new zones are out of the question without a full blown expansion, although they did hint that there was more locked away on the current disk than was currently accessible to the players. Other than new art, pretty much anything else can be patched into the game. This is because very little other than the graphics is handled by the client (which also should make it difficult if not impossible for players to cheat in the game). Quite a few changes are in the works. First off, they will continue to add new quests and items to the game. When I complained that there did not seem to be any quests located in the outlying villages, they responded that they were aware of that and planned on developing more quests for those areas in the future. They then told us about the level 25 side quests that they implemented just a day later than our meeting. Expect a larger variety of quests as the game develops. They also plan on playing with the way quests are done and are considering quests that involve solving puzzles and quests that have alternative methods and endings. They are also keenly aware of the lack of trade skills in the game and are currently working on implementing them. I was told that trade skills would be done in a similar manner to how they are currently done in Everquest (basically collect the ingredients, put them in the container and hit combine), but that they would try to encourage more experimentation. In general, player made items should be better than the ones you can obtain on your own at that level to encourage the use of the skills and player to player trades. The first new skill to be added, although I guess not technically a trade skill, will be fishing. Unlike EQ, this will involve more than just sitting in one place and hitting the fish button over and over. Instead, there will be a mini fishing game within the game involving casting and reeling in the fish, and the fish you catch will adjust seasonally. Yes, you will still catch that occasional old cruddy sandal. The advantage of fishing is that you will be able to catch your own food and drink, saving you from buying it from the vendors. The world will also start to evolve. They plan on the game being somewhat dynamic over time. Some of this will involve GM run events. Others will be introduced into the game more permanently. I was told to expect specific changes for the Erudites as they plan their voyage to Odus, where by the time of EQ they had moved and built a brand new city. Changes could include population changes and even new classes. It sounds like EQOA will present more of an evolving story line than EQ has shown. Other changes are more responsive to how they see the game developing and what is in most demand by the players. They play the game themselves and also read the forums and understand what they players are most concerned about. The changes announced for the next patch are an example of this. After realizing that groups were constantly losing each other, they worked out a way to more easily find your group members when you get lost, and added an auto follow so that you would get lost less often. They also are adding an auto attack feature so that you can chat with your group and still continue to attack the mob. Other changes they are planning are a revamp of the targeting system so that you can more easily and quickly target the exact mob you wish to attack. It’s still in the works, but the gist of it seemed to be a way to move the target meter directly to a mob and click on it to zero in on that mob. An auto loot system of some sort that lets the group leader decide and enforce loot order is also in the works. Some sort of bazaar system is being considered, though I was told it was still in the early planning stages. Voice capability may be added at some point, but they were still debating as to whether it would help the game or pierce the illusion, so they were approaching that cautiously. A pvp version of the game was considered something that, if it did happen, would not happen until far down the road. Conclusion If you are an EQPC gamer reading this article, you will likely be struck by both the similarities and differences between the two games. Frankly, I don’t see how you can realistically compare the two games. EQOA was designed from the ground up to be a console MMORPG game rather than a clone of EQ. Many EQ players will enjoy the differences, while others will hate them. It’s really a matter of play style. I still maintain that Sony has done a marvelous job of merging the concepts of a MMORPG like Everquest with the pace and feel of a console RPG. Time will tell whether it is as lasting as Everquest has been. For those who are currently playing the game, there is a lot to look forward to. Normally when a game is finished and shipped, the development team for that game disbands and starts on new projects. Yet there we were last weekend sitting in a room full of EQOA developers who were anxious to continue with what they had started. The feeling I got from them is that they feel the game has really just scratched the surface of its potential. Basically, if you like what you see so far, you should hopefully love what you get in the future. For some other perspectives on what we learned on this trip, check out these stories:

Baelish's EQOA Examined Story

Mobhunter On The Road Part 1

Stratics Look at EQOA

EQOA Realms' Trip to Sony Headquarters