This Saturday, hundreds of classic EverQuest players plan on flooding one of the game's servers in protest of the lack of a vintage PvP server. The 21-year-old MMO still has a pretty thriving community, including several servers running older versions, but the game currently has just one official PvP server and it's on modern EverQuest. This means anyone who wants a classic PvP experience needs to use private community-run servers. But these players have had enough, they want their old PvP back, and they're rising up as ogres to get the developers' attention. I spoke to one of the ringleaders ahead of the protest.
]]>Twenty years of EverQuest, blimey! I'd have been four years old when that came out, too young to experience the harsh and clunky fantasy world that made World of Warcraft a shocking breeze when it hit. A fresh-faced baby, free from worrying about losing all my boar teeth and experience points on death.
EverQuest is still kicking about, two decades of updates and expansions on. But like any game with a lifespan that long, there are always folks who want to take a step back to the rose-tinted good old days. Unofficially, Project 1999 is about to give them just that.
]]>EverQuest came out in 1999. It invited thousands of adventurers to the fantasy realm of Norrath to kill monsters and loot dungeons. Twenty years later, it is still alive. To understand why thousands of people sill log in to this antiquated MMO every day after two decades, I spoke to some of its veteran developers and a longtime fan that's been playing since the turn of the millennium.
]]>Daybreak Game Company, the H1Z1 and PlanetSide 2 mob formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment, have laid off an unconfirmed number of staff. It's the second wave of layoffs at Daybreak this year, and a real tough time to be laid off. It's the usual "optimising our structure" sort of reason. Daybreak say they'll continue to run their current and are working on new games too.
]]>Light a candle for the genre, it's basically done. Oh, it'll keep ticking along, of course. This month we've seen Black Desert Online, there's others on the way, and there'll always be some audience for both the mostly Korean-born clickers and the occasional new idea. Personally I'm hoping for City of Titans to scratch that superhero itch that Champions Online sure as heck can't, and for Shroud of the Avatar to bring back some of that Ultima magic. (Take a shot.) But as a genre to actively watch for cool stuff? Stick a fork in it. Sony- sorry, Daybreak was pretty much the last great hope of breathing life into it in any form remotely close to how Everquest did it back in the day, never mind giving it back the cultural clout from World of Warcraft's heyday.
]]>Spoiler alert, RPGs are kinda ridiculous. Most games are, of course. While the Mythbusters may have shown that carrying Doomguy's loadout into battle isn't as bad as it might sound, there's a reason they've never done a follow-up about doing it after taking a few rockets to the face. Likewise, we can't know the effect of glugging down fifty health potions a day, but it must mean a lot of pauses for the heroic knight to hurriedly get his armour off for a quick pee-break.
Like a lot of things, there's a line here - on one side, things that are interesting to see a game justify, and on the other, things that are probably best handwaved. Where does that line lie?
]]>I am standing in a place that shouldn't exist. It shouldn't exist because back in 2011 it was decided that this place and the countless others connected to it were no longer financially viable enough to warrant their own existence. Four years ago, almost to this date, thousands of players gathered where I am standing right now to witness the final moments of Star Wars Galaxies.
"When I was very little, I used to create trial accounts of the game for hours and hours just to continue exploring," John tells me. "Even though I never made it off of Tatooine or past level 12, I fell in love." That love is what inspired John, better known by his peers as Aconite, to get involved with the community dedicated to preserving and restoring Galaxies to what it used to be. He's part of a growing trend of MMOs that find a second life through the reverse engineering, emulation, and sometimes theft of their biggest fans.
]]>Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will now be known as Daybreak Game Company after being acquired from Sony by investment management firm, Columbus Nova.
SOE is the studio responsible for games including EverQuest, PlanetSide 2, and the early access zombie survival game, H1Z1. The company notes that the acquisition will not disrupt any of its current games, but will allow them to pursue multi-platform projects.
]]>In theory, MMORPGs are my favourite PC games in the world. Exploring strange new worlds, dressing up in shiny armour, and kicking butt are my primary gaming motivations and MMORPGs have those in spades. Richard Garriott sold me the dream of a living fantasy world to inhabit in my early PC gaming days and it's a dream I've never quite given up on.
Yet the genre has become stagnant, like the fetid dregs of your drink once you've dragged yourself to bed after an all-night raiding binge. Everquest became popular, then World of Warcraft ridiculously so, and the desire for all that subscription money cemented the theme park MMO as the One True Way, with only EVE Online achieving success while stubbornly flying the sandbox flag. Which isn't much good if you prefer dragons to spaceships. I believe that MMORPGs need a good kick up the arse and I'd like to propose an unconventional Boot of Inspiration: live-action role-playing, better known as LARPing.
]]>Have you been looking for an MMO to round out the less massive, woefully lonely aspects of your life? And not just any MMO, but The MMO, one that can be summed up using a checklist of vague yet overwhelmingly familiar elements? Well then, have I got a game for you (to Kickstart, naturally). Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has the pedigree of EverQuest and Vanguard developer Brad McQuaid behind it, but so far it doesn't have many other aces up its long, wizardly sleeves. Fast-ish-paced combat, teamwork, and old-school difficulty seem to be the big selling points. So it's a fantasy MMO with some slight tweaks to a withered and ancient formula. All well and good, but worth $800,000? Hmmmm.
]]>I remember when I first played Everquest. I was younger then - naive, optimistic, and completely unable to grasp the concept that a PVP server meant idly tapping the attack button around other people could cause an international incident. Still though, it was my first MMO, and what a magical experience it was. I'll never forget my first death by Sand Giant or related, nearly naked corpse run through Terror Country. I tried it out again recently, though, and it's, uh, really different. But I suppose that makes sense, seeing as there have been 18 expansion sets. And now it's about to get even more different with a 19th. Also, EverQuest II's hitting number nine, because... jeez, really? Nine? Where did the time go, everyone? What were we doing?
]]>MMOs are pretty much about two things: breaking and taking. Kill ten things, take six things, etc, etc, etc. Monsters, boar gizzards, fish, barrels - nothing is safe. But all that destruction can get a bit exhausting at times. I mean, who hasn't met an Orc, ogre, or space marine who just wanted to paint? So now SOE's letting players balance out their wanton destruction with a little creation. Player Studio, as the new system's known, will allow players to submit custom items to the likes of EverQuest, EverQuest II, Vanguard, and (eventually) PlanetSide 2 for potential use by everyone in each respective game. It does, however, seem a bit less community driven than, say, Steam Workshop.
]]>I'm starting to view the paid-for period of an MMO's life as the pre-pubescent stage: the inevitability of growth into F2P is starting to look like it's in the DNA. Both Everquest and Aion are noticing other MMOs, worrying about their acne and taking an interest in clothes. Aion in particular is experiencing a growth spurt, finally readying version 3.0 for everyone to play.
]]>I can't help but wonder how many of today's crop of MMOs will manage to last 13 years. Running expenses are surely so much higher than they were in dear old EverQuest's day. The major precursor to the dark age of grinding and number keys that we know so well has indeed managed a baker's dozen-sized lifespan, and while its days as a subscription game are not yet numbered, it now also wears a free to play coat on its aged frame.
]]>Right then, what's left? Everquest 1, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, Lineage... What else yet stands firm against the free to play tide? The latest to switch is SOE's 2014-launched Everquest II, which will offer itself to the microtransaction gods next month.
]]>This week in our series of highly personal retrospectives on landmark computer games, videogames PhD researcher and independent games developer Mitu Khandaker looks back to the wonder, exploration and lofty world-building of what might well be the most defining entry in the history of MMOs: EverQuest.
]]>EQ's Fan Faire event in Las Vegas has had a big reveal: the working title for the next Everquest title is... Everquest Next. Which is exciting, I suppose, because it means that there really is another Everquest game in the works. EQWire totally blogged the panel in which the new game was mentioned, and although details remain fairly scant, it seems that Everquest Next will be more like the original game, and with a lovely PvP focus for people who like the fantasy mega-biff.
]]>Ah, I'm late on this. I meant to post it a couple of weeks back, but got distracted by laserbeams firing from the heavens. But it's still relevant, so it's getting a quick nod here, in time for the weekend. After all - you weren't planning on going outside or something crazy? In short: Sony announced that anyone with an inactive account for either Everquest or Everquest 2 could play until July 31st absolutely free. Details of it here. I haven't played either since their respective early days. Does anyone think it's worth returning?
]]>The MMO that spawned so many imitators has now been running for nine years. To celebrate, the EQ dev blog have produced a gigantic super-detailed timeline, recording all the major events of the game over that not-quite-decade. You can see the entire graphic here. Massively.com conducted a big old interview with EQ's player-turned-lead designer, Travis McGeathy, to celebrate the anniversary.
]]>Pre-empting my Rainz was a Patsy JFK/Lord British feature idea, The Escapist has an interview with Fansy the Famous Level 5 Bard, the infamous old-skool Everquest Griefer.
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