Buying and Selling from Merchants

I won't waste your time going through the options here, I'm just going to jump right into my thoughts and then justify them with a drawn out explanation.

Question:  If a player sells an item to an NPC merchant, should other players be able to buy that item from the merchant?

Answer:  Maybe.

My thoughts on how it should work, and the mechanics of selling and buying from Merchants...

There will be a number of Merchants in the game:

• Crafting Merchants
• Merchants who do not have raw materials, they seek them out, bring them back to a forge, loom, etc. and create crafted products.  These crafting merchants only seek out the materials that they need to craft in their particular field.  If they are sold something they don't need they'll use it to barter for what they do need, purchase it at a discounted rate from players, and seek to get it out of their inventory.  If they can't find anyone to take it they'll seek to get rid of it by offering players incentives: "Come one, come all!  All sharpened rusty swords now come with a fire beetle eye!"
• Traveling Merchants
• These merchants do not seek out any particular item.  Their business model is to buy extremely low, sell extremely high, and offload within cities.  Generally speaking, their prices will fluctuate from high while traveling to low while preparing to leave a city/town.  These merchants offer a great service to adventures with full backpacks.  Traveling merchants are intelligent in that if they've just finished walking through the forest and have purchased many stacks of "Bear Hides" they will head to the leatherworking merchants/vendors within the next city and sell their items in bulk (or trade for highly salable leather armor!).  In larger cities, the Traveling merchants will visit the local Auction House and sell their items to the highest bidder (ie: Players).
• "Specialists"
• Specialists sell very particular items, like all vendors they will buy anything you give to them, but they will provide a below average price.  A Hermit, alone in his woodland cabin, may only sell pebbles he's found on his journey.  Likewise, he does not care to travel specifically to sell wares.  Over time, you may find that items other players have sold him have found their ways onto Traveling Merchants, which the Hermit has met through his travels.
• Inn Keepers
• Specialists in their own way, Inn Keepers tend to stick to the basics: food, water, and traveling supplies.  Traveling Merchants, adventurers, and even the odd Specialist may wonder into the Inn looking to stay the night or have a meal.  Those customers may end up selling, or purchasing, items from the Inn Keeper.  As such, Inn Keepers generally have a very broad and every changing selection of items in addition to the basics.
• Shop Keepers
• Really self explanatory.  Shop keepers own a store, stall, booth, mall, cart, or other active business.  They generally deal in particular items, such as swords, clothing, regents, food, spells, or scrolls.  They'll buy anything, and sell anything they have.  Because they deal in a particular item and live in the city they'll generally be happy to purchase something at an slightly below-average value so you can purchase some of their wares.  However, they are quick to sell those items to crafting and traveling merchants that come by for nearly no profit, simply to keep their inventory fresh.
• and more...

So there you have it!  If I'm out in the world, slaying spider-lings, and I obtain a massive quantity of Spider-ling Silk, I have two options (for selling to merchants).  I can sell to a traveling merchant when I see one pass by, or I can head to town and sell to a merchant their for a higher value.

If I sell to a traveling merchant, that merchant will then use his uber Story Bricks AI to trigger a "Go to the Tailor in this city and sell Spider-ling Silk" action.  That tailor (a crafting merchant) could then create a number of Silk Robes.  With his robes in hand, the crafting merchant may choose to visit some of the local armor shops and sell his robes to them.  A traveling merchant, about to hit the road, may also purchase one to resell to a rich adventurer.  

I believe this all to be capable under the existing AI system, and I believe it would enable these keep points:

1. All merchants would have "baseline" items that they maintained in stock.
2. All merchants would have the POTENTIAL to have ever changing and refreshing stock.
3. Would encourage a system where Players would have important interaction with a network of NPCs.
4. Items will have a history!
5. There is very little "showing out of the blue", vendors and their inventories evolve as the game does.

So yup, that's it!  Until next time!

Response to Video: Fast Travel in Everquest Next

The video starts with, "Sounds like players want exploration first."

Then into EverQuest's travel system, and how it made the world feel huge.

Then you say, "ya, but I want to group up with my friends on the other side of the world."

Then we get this awesome system with fast travel to distant nodes, not instantaneous, with plenty of travel when you arrive.

(ok, so so far it's an exploration first system, similar to EverQuest but with some sort of fast travel.  Not instantaneous, which is great, and there is lots of travel room still required after you fast travel.  Wow, that sounds very NEW, and DIFFERENT, and GREAT.

AND THEN YOU CLOSE WITH, "IF IT AIN'T BROKEN, DON'T FIX IT!"

Are we doing the new system you talked about?
Are we sticking to an EverQuest system?

Cause that new system, it doesn't sound like something which you could apply the "If it ain't broken, don't fix it" cliche to!

So just tell me straight up, what are we doing in EverQuest Next?

How much should the world of EQ Next change based on time of day?

The next round-table question was posted by SoE:

How much should the world of EQ Next change based on time of day?

Skip to actual points, rather than blabbing by scrolling to the green text.

Random Thoughts:

I started talking about the importance of day and night, but I quickly realized I don't have to justify day and night, because the nature of the question implies that there is a day and night.  The real question is, what happens over time?

Entrance to High Keep in EverQuest.  It has a date!

To convey a sense of realism in any game, day and night (ie: time) cycles are important, and correlate heavily with the atmosphere that players feel.  Night is dark, brings a sense of danger, and is associated with a heightened sense of "What was that?!"  Day time on the other hand is carefree, sense of exploration is heightened, and we tend to be more open to exploring our world.

The best analogy I can give to a conveyance of the importance of day and night comes from... Minecraft!  My god, they do an excellent job.  You spend your daylight hours hunting, finding resources, and generally exploring the world.  Your only fear is falling off a cliff or down a hole.  Come night, every non-elite player heads indoors, or into a well lit cave.  They lock the door, hunker down, and wait for the sun to come up.

You do this because the environment is changing, DRASTICALLY. The zombies bang on your door, the spiders skitter about outside, and you KNOW that if you go outside you WILL BE ATTACKED! Minecraft takes it to an extreme, but because it fits so well with the style of the game it's awesome.  I think EverQuest Next could learn from EverQuest and Minecraft, apply those learnings in a new way, to create a new SENSE OF ADVENTURE that grabs a hold and doesn't let go!

Let's explore that further down the rabbit hole...

In EverQuest, EQN Forum folks have touched on the fact that Werewolves would spawn at night, Kithicor would turn evil, light wisps would come out, ambient noise would change, and visibility would decrease.  EverQuest was, in the broadest sense, able to change with time by alternating between day and night.  Cycles completed every 72 minutes, with night quickly following day for those waiting for a particular night or day time spawn.

Indeed, the night was dark and full of terrors, and the day was full of adventure.  While it wasn't to the extremes of Minecraft with zombies coming out of the woodwork, it did instill a sense of fear in particular zones.  The sense and feeling of fear is important, for travel and adventure without risk should not be rewarded.

That being said, I believe night fits in well with some of the points I had previously mentioned on the blog during my discussion of fast travel.  Those points where:

Travel must:

1. Have an inherit risk that makes you think, "Is it worth it?" 
2. Require effort.
3. Be restricted.
4. Require knowledge or exploration.
5. Have a safe place.

To achieve those points, I believe the world of EverQuest Next should change over time.  Travel at night should be notably more dangerous than travel during the day.  Exploring (and travel) should require effort, be restricted, and have the potential to be safe.  By exploring during the day, sticking to trails, and avoiding scary places you have the ability to likely travel significant distances without being harassed.  By night, the same journey will likely see you dead or attacked, or the very least, AFRAID!

Duskwood screams, "Dangerous at night!"

So now that I've blabbed for way to long about random thoughts, here are my suggestions

AI interaction as a function of time of day

Suns up!  Time to hide in bushes and stab people!

EverQuest Next has the ability to implement an incredible AI system.  That system should take advantage of time.  NPCs should be able to:

• Go home at night
• Go to sleep
• Go find food for a meal
• Complete "questionable" activities in the dark
• Find travelers by the torches or campfires they carry in the dark
• Avoid travelers by avoiding the light (torches/campfires) they carry in the dark
• Move/attack under cover of darkness
• Set traps in the dark
• Avoid sunlight or moonlight, depending on NPC characteristics (Owl vs. Sea-Gull)

Let's play make-believe and pretend what I type is what actually occurs in EverQuest Next.

My friends and I had just completed a portion of a rally-call, we'd cut down some trees surrounding the new town of Qeynos so the goblins would have a rough time attacking without first being spotted.  The risk of them damaging the city is no longer relevant, and the chances of a siege are unlikely.

Because of a nearby population of werewolves, it's been unsafe to travel outside the walls at night. We'd need a much larger group of people to clear out those werewolves. The werewolves hunt in packs and pack a very mean punch.  Add to that that we didn't have any magical weapons in our group of three, we could barely hurt them!

We received news from our guild that suggested they'd uncovered a cave system that contained a unique beast.  We knew from some other guilds that these beasts leave quickly once they've been discovered.  Our group, being as rash as we are awesome, decided to travel to the cave system for fear of missing out on some uber loot. Prior to making our way outside the town we did what any prudent night time traveler would do, we casted invisibility on our entire group.

Everything was going well until Franz (ah.. that silly gnome) shot off a Blue_Firework while mis-clicking his Potion_of_Invisibility.  We heard the howls immediately, and knew there would be a group of werewolves on our location at any second!  They would be coming from everywhere, that firework was very visible!

With our cover blown, (we all know invisibility just helps you avoid detection, it doesn't actually make you invisible), our group dropped out of invisibility in favour of Jify's Selo's!  We high tailed it to the nearest guard shack, with the werewolves following closely behind.  Our hope was that the light from the guard shack would be enough to deter their attack, not so.  We had attracted so many werewolves that they had made the decision (as a group of werewolves) that they could overwhelm this guard shack and take us all on!  We ran inside, the guards could fend for themselves!

BANG BANG BANG on the walls/door as the werewolves quickly dispatched the nearby guards and tried to break their way into the shack.  With one more trick up our sleeves, Gify, our beloved Druid, began to succor (teleport) us to the nearby Druid grove.  The door gave way and in rushed 4 of the meanest werewolves I ever saw (thankfully the guards had dispatched three before hand)!  Franz (warrior) ran in and quickly intercepted them and Jify tried his best to keep the werewolves slowed with some soothing music.  With no more than a few seconds to spare Gify's port zapped us out of the guard shack and into the Druid grove (were we all know that we wouldn't be attacked by anything unless we attacked first).  

The unfortunate part... we were now 10 minutes in the wrong direction!  Serves us right for trying to travel at night, through a dangerous area, without a full group.

Long winded way for me to make a point that the AI system, from the information available, seems able to determine if it can kill something and respond to actions (ie: fire works).  I don't believe it would be a large stretch of the imagination for the AI to respond differently at night, making previously safe woods incredibly dangerous to unprepared or unskilled group at night.  You take a risk by traveling at night, and your group should know what they are doing.

This would bring another level of realism and depth to the game.

Don't make it silly

Don't do minecraft.  I don't want to see zombines insta-pop in the dark when it gets dark out.  I don't want to have to hide in my little house with 5 torches because any dark area of the game is a threat.  I do think that some monsters should come out in the night, and go back to hiding during the day.  I just think whatever you do has to make sense with the lore and the environment.

Are the werewolves inhabiting the woods only by night?  Where do they sleep/live during the day?  Maybe there is a suspicious logging camp, a hole in the side of a mountain, a secret cave under a river, a covered underground lair that they "dig" out of during the night.  Those werewolves better not be popping out of thin air at this stage in the evolution of video games.

Changes in difficulty should result in changes in reward.

Check out the article on Game Design and Risk vs. Reward

As I mention time and time again, risk deserves reward.  If I'm willing to brave the night in search of loot it should be risky and rewarding.  I shouldn't be able to find a mountain of treasure, but my guild should be able to uncover the lair of a sleeping beast at night, or see the fire-light of a ritualistic sacrifice on the side of the ocean.  My ability to find loot should increase, but my chance of dying (ie: risk) should also be increased.


Fear of dying

Why run?  It's not scary, I just don't want to die!

Lastly, but very importantly, night should instill some fear into the player.  If they are afraid to travel out into the night it's not because they are "scared" of spiders and zombies, it's because they do not want to die!  This isn't real life, people don't avoid things because they are scary, they avoid things (or are careful) because there is a consequence.  It just so happens that the consequence 99% of the time is death.

Jify out.

Smaller Races - Word Cloud

Alright, by request, here is a word cloud for the Small Races discussion.  Some clear winners, but same as before, the word "don't" is show as "DON", so there are likely lots of statements captured that sound similar to, "Don't put in ratonga!  PUT IN GNOMES!"

Jify out.

Lore Analysis

I'm analyzing the Lore post further, the results are below!

Quick notes:  It's not very accurate, because it's basically just a copy of the text, modified to remove non-descript words.  But the main reason it's not very accurate is because Mallas Scumlord posts about 35 times for every one post from someone else. lol

Also note that Don't (shown as DON) was a major word.  Likely to go along with something like, "DON"T DO CUT SCENES".

Update to the masses

Hey Folks!

I see you all viewing my blog, please post a comment!  I'd love to create some dialogue and chat about EverQuest Next, specifically my thoughts and how you think they are either wrong or right.  Let's debate!

Anonymous posting is enabled, go nuts!

Likewise, if you have a similar blog please let me know, I'd love to give a shout out!

What is your favorite way to consume the lore of EverQuest Next?

Alright Sony, let's do this!

Today's Round-table posted here.

The question:
What is your favorite way to consume the lore of EverQuest Next?

At the time of writing this, here is how everything stacks up:

This post, I'm going to do things a little differently.  I think by evaluation the options and pointing to glaring discrepancies and the "missing" options, Sony might be throwing a blind shoulder to me.  So, in an effort to draw some Sony attention to my blog I won't be saying that they missed critical options, or that their poll is one-sided and they've already made up their minds.

So, my thoughts:

Lore has always been a dangerous balancing act in any game.  Cut scenes add to games, but also take away from games.  When I watch a cut scene something is generally going on in an instance OR is bridging the gap between one part of an instance and another.

I'm an anti-instance kind of guy.  I think that when a cut-scene comes up my immersion into the game actually goes DOWN because I'm forced to watch the exact same re-count of an event every time I go through it.  Likewise, everyone that has ever gone through said event see's the same thing.  And no, it still counts as "the same" even if you get to select option A or option B, or if your party show up on the screen instead of Soandso's party.

EverQuest however, relied on a tactful, and perhaps lucky balance of introducing lore while not cramming it down our throats.  Allow me to explain.

Let's go back to that first critical moment that you started EverQuest, this one:

Classic EverQuest - Kelethin Starting Point

You were thrown into a magical world, and you had NO FREAKING CLUE what or who anything was.  You looked around and saw trees, and then you likely pressed a button and fell off to your death.

That death aside, you progressed through the game without much understanding of lore, aside from what you picked up while visiting your class trainer (or Guildmaster) and what you heard while running from bat to bat.  That was the beauty of it, you played the game and didn't worry about lore.  It wasn't required to progress.  No cut scenes, no books, no long quest dialogues (unless you wanted to!).

Flash forward, and you're fighting in Crushbone.  Some silly bard /shouts "Dvinn to zone".  Doesn't make any sense to you, because you're a newbie.  Boom, you're dead, and this silly dark-elf says something about the Indigo Brotherhood and runs off to kill another newbie.

 Fast forward some more, and you're across the world in Northern Ro, killing Derves with your buddies when some dude that looks JUST like D'vinn pops infront of you!  You're buddies go and check him out, you scream a word of warning, but it's not required.  D'vinn didn't agro them, but he's only KOS to you!

Then it dawns on you, killing all those Orcs was lowering my faction with the Indigo Brotherhood, that must be a group of these dark-elves!  Interesting stuff, but now from your own playing experience you now know there is an elite group of Dark Elves that are spread about the world grouping with various "bad guys" and slaying newbies.  You didn't need to read a book for it to happen, you EXPERIENCED IT, WITHOUT A CUT SCENE!

Most importantly, Dvinn and his buddy Dorn in North Ro didn't become "evil" to you because they were part of a cut-scene that said they are evil.  They became evil to you because they either slayed or wanted to slay you.  They didn't become part of some elite evil dark-elf group because the cut scene told you so, they were part of that group because you observed it!

To your friends, he's still some dark-skinned elf with a magical dagger fresh for the taking.  They don't know these things.  They haven't experienced them.  For all you know, they could be allies to the Indigo Brotherhood, hell-bent on slaying wood elves and making platinum.  The game has evolved differently for both you and your friends, and THAT is a key part of EverQuest, and it should be a KEY part of EverQuest Next.

Another path, let's say your lone ranger is about to quest out into the world, potentially to collect his Raincaller bow!  The undisputed awesome bow of the classic era.  You head over to Lesser Faydark, start exploring, and this lovely fellow pops by to say hello.

Yup, you're dead again!  And in EverQuest, death is pretty powerful stuff.  You know this horse means business and you want to make sure it doesn't get you again!  You ask questions, you research where it spawns, and that leads you to some powerful Lore.  

You see, Lesser Faydark used to be very safe, with the odd bandit running around.  Cazic Thule corrupted it, including the horsey you see above (actually a Unicorn).  To end the corruption, Firiona Vie broke off Equestrielle's horn, but the corrupted horsey remained to plague the forest.

I didn't have to watch a cut scene to tell me that, I found it by talking to fellow players that experienced the event and by research some stuff on the internet about what other people had EXPERIENCED.

What I'm trying to say is this:

Cut Scenes are not effective.  They are pretty and pampered ways to bridge gaps in content.

The best way to introduce Lore, is to have it AVAILABLE and let players experience it at their own pace.

To clarify, available means:

• Websites
• In-game Books
• Story Telling NPCs
• Quest NPCs
• etc.

Just look at the wealth of knowledge collected here, it's incredible: http://www.elitegamerslounge.com/home/lore/

Let players make their own experiences and their own decisions WITH Lore.  Don't use pre-determined experiences and decisions (movies, cut scenes, etc) to teach the lore.

Choosing 1, 2 or 3 is not a sandbox RPG, it's a choose your own adventure novel.  And you know what you need to make a novel?  Printed pages to flip to.  You aren't writing your own story, you're following one.

Final words:

I want lots of lore, everywhere, and it all has to be 100% optional content.  No required reading, no required cut scenes.  Make it part of the game, with all players exposed to it, but not all players required to participate in it.  Players will be inclined to immerse themselves in the lore, rather than have you force it down their throats.

There are many ways death could work in MMOs. What's your preference for EverQuest Next?

Darnit SoE, you did it again!

Let's weigh the options on our "Line of Penalties":

We can see that Option 1 through Option 5 give us a wide sampling across the board.  As always, we have the two extremes that are just there for reference, but, because no sane designer would pick an extreme, that axes out one of our options (option 1).  Option 5 isn't an extreme, it's just closer to it.

We have four options, that we can further break down into the following categories:

Option 2 - Group Penalty

Option 3 - Personal Penalty

Option 4 - Time Penalty

Option 5 - Slap on the wrist


Option 2 - Group Penalty

In my opinion, MMOs are about group play, group strategy, and group cooperation.  If you want to destroy that, you blame the group for someone's poor luck or skill.  If you got penalized for picking the fat kid in gym class you know what everyone would ALWAYS do, they'd pick the fat kid last.  When it comes to MMOs, if you can ONLY trust your most skilled group of friends you will quickly alienate people.

In GW2, group play really isn't encouraged.  It's all about playing by yourself and tagging onto someone else's quest, event, or luck.  If you want to do some group based activities, like a dungeon, you rely on an elite group of friends to successfully complete the dungeon without death and mental stress.  If you're looking for a terrible experience you'll invite a "PUG" to Arah.

I think people should have skill, but I don't think their lack of it should impact the group.  I think their lack of skill should slow down their ability to progress until they've proven they have sufficient skill to progress to the next tier of gameplay. Which brings us too...

Option 3 - Personal Penalty

You're terrible, and you pay the price.  I like it.

Keep in mind there are no levels in EverQuest Next, so de-levelings or "exp loss" aren't options.  What we are looking at is some sort of penalty that slows down a players ability to progress until they've sufficiently mastered their current tier of gameplay.

In EverQuest, this was the level.  If you ran into a "red con" you'd likely die, but if you played all day fighting easy "green cons" you'd never progress.  The game directed you towards challenging (and win-able) adventures, fights, quests and dungeons that where appropriate for your skill level.  If you died lots and lots, you de-leveled and the game would direct you towards easier content until you upped your gear or skill level.

The damaging of gear only serves as a light slap on the wrist in this aspect.  It stops you from "chain dying" to get something done, say, a raid mob or a dungeon boss.  It doesn't stop you from running higher level content, it just breaks your bank account in an effort to tell you to "use some strategy or get some skill".  I'm tired of gear damage and durability, we need something new.  Maybe you die and the priests in a nearby temple will resurrect you for a nominal fee or require you to find something in a spirit world before you can rez.

In EverQuest Next, I'm not sure what the penalty should be, but it should be personal.  Since reputation and lasting change is such a large driver, maybe it is the best penalty to propose.  Your death (or continual death) could lower your standing with factions of warriors, while raising your faction with "Newbie Friendly" factions.  Maybe if you died lots the "newbies" would take you in, and give you access to tutorials and simple beginner weapons (maybe that's how people start in the game).  As you progress in skill, the "newbie faction" recognizes you as a warrior, or a mage, or a priest, and decides you don't need help anymore.  Now you can do quests and access gear, challenges, or skills through these special advanced factions.  If you make a bunch of really bad choices and die a lot, now your reputation as a skillful warrior is tarnished and you are once again accepted as a "newbie".

One thing I want to stress is that:

DURABILITY IS NOT A HIGH PENALTY FOR DEATH, UNLESS MY ITEMS ARE PERMANENTLY DAMAGED OR REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT EFFORT TO REPAIR.

Option 4 - Time Penalty

We are over this.  We did this before, let's not do it again.  Wasting time just for the sake of wasting time is stupid, frustrating, and leads to rage quitting.  You might as well just give me a spawn timer that I can click after 5-10 minutes to instantly play again.

Time penalties should only be included if they are NOT used just for wasting time, but are used to balance content or restrict access.  As an example, in most PVP games (WoW, GW2) you cannot instantly pop up, you must wait for a graveyard or a timer to avoid using "death as a strategy".

Option 5 -  Slap on the wrist

Doesn't work.  Why die?  Why not just insta de-agro whatever killed me, heal me to full, and let me carry on.  I don't have much to say here other than a "slap on the wrist" or less is only sought after by folks that are typically unskilled and/or cannot tolerate failure (due to their personality).



Whatever the option, it should meet these criteria:

1. Discourage the use of death as a strategy.
• "Let's kill this mob, then die so we pop up at X."
• "Rush in, if you die, run back in.  Lather, rinse, repeat until boss is dead."
• "Just run to X point and die, you'll pop up where you need to go."
2. Guide players to appropriately challenging content for their skill level.
3. Give players a chance to review their death before diving back into the same content that killed them.
• Swivel camera from corpse, allows me to see the archer on the ledge behind me that killed me.
• Combat log says I was killed by "Lava", guess I'll avoid that next time.
• Chance to tell the group, "Guys, I found the solution, follow me next time."
4. Sense of danger, people shouldn't want to die. (EverQuest did this well)
5. Reward of the challenge should outweigh the risk of dying from said challenge (If I die 10 times to get a bat wing, I'm never going to try and get that bat wing again. *points at multiple quests in EQ that no one ever did*  We should reward risk!)

Thanks for listening, Jify out!

Contested content: yea or nay?

This is another topic that is near and dear to my heart as a previous EverQuest, EverQuest 2, and WoW player.

Every fond memory I have of raiding always ends up in a discussion of one of three groups of mobs:

The EverQuest Dragons, Vox and Nagafen

The original Planes of EverQuest (Plane of Hate, Plane of Sky, etc)

Or the Emerald Dragons of World of Warcraft

What do these all have in common, aside from their raid-level epicness?  They are all contested monsters/zones.  They would spawn, and we (the players) would rally our guilds and come charging in to test our metal and gather up some uber loot.

With SoE's poll, they gave us a few options, the important ones are listed below with my thoughts!

"The hardest content/most valuable reward content should be contested."

This option appeals to me, but I know it isn't practical.  To have the hardest and most valuable reward content as contested allows key groups or guilds the opportunity to monopolize the contested mobs.  This leads to a select few guilds increasing in strength while the rest of the server lags behind.  This model benefits a select few, and encourages extreme competition between high end guilds.

As a player that typical jumps into those select high end guilds, I can tell you I'd enjoy a "contested content only" game.  But like I mentioned earlier, it's not practical.

"There should be a good mix of both contested and non-contested content."

This is the obvious choice.  Contested content will allow for generally lower risk, higher reward loot.  It may not be the best in the game, but you won't have to complete a large dungeon to access it.  Contested content is like a $20 bill fluttering across the field at your son's soccer game, it's a near zero risk reward to whoever can get to it first and grab it.

Non-contested content is where guilds can cut their teeth.  They can train, practice, and obtain the majority amount of loot and experience.  The model within EQ2 worked well, where if I had to guess the loot was split approximately 50/50 between contested and non-contested.  Contested and non-contested had similar quality loots, but the contested encounters almost always had a better chance of dropping higher end loot.

"Everything should always be available, not contested.  Players should never have to wait or compete for content."

I don't agree with the way this is worded.  Players shouldn't have to wait for content in a properly built game.  EverQuest Next will have so much going on no one HAS to wait, but they can choose to if they want to remain inefficient or ineffective as a player.  Even in a mix of contested and uncontested content there should be enough going on in the world to keep players busy, they shouldn't rely on contested content to keep them entertained.  Contested content is for the elite or the lucky to grab some extra loot and bragging rights.

Fast Travel in Everquest Next

This Wednesday (September 25th) SoE asked us "Fast Travel in EverQuest Next: love it or leave it?"

I'd like to go through the points and then dive into WHAT and WHY fast travel should or shouldn't exist!

"I want to be able to get to my group within 5 minutes, wherever they are in the world."

This would be very outside the real of MMOs.  I'd relate this more to logging into a game of Counter-Strike, selecting map de_dust, and poof, you're there.  This option is basically there to fill up space as a far extreme on what we'll call the left side.

To be perfectly honest, we don't really need this option.  Just like we don't need the far right side of the poll. We can skip over this option, because it's silly.

"I want a huge world, even it means 30 minutes getting to my group each night."

I think someone messed up, because this is SoE's "far right" option.  But it's not really that far right.  If we dive into the original Everquest, we can see that some players were VERY happy to pop up across the world and spend hours trying to meet up with a friend to slay some rats and bats.  If I was going to redraw the "MMO Travel Line" to incorporate SoE's implied range, it would be this:

The picture becomes clear, that if the range is indeed this way, SoE is already leaning towards very fast travel (or poorly positioned polls).  Those folks that play Everquest, or did, they are WAY out in right field, and won't see a game that fits with their nostalgic play style.  As a former EQ player looking to revisit that style, it makes me a little sad.

"Fast Travel with limitations, such as only via player abilities or requiring you to visit "the long way" first."

Ah!  SoE you tricky little buggers.  I voted for this option because my eyes lit up and I saw "WIZARD AND DRUID PORTS!"  But alas, upon careful observation (and using years of lawyerism instilled in me as a regulatory professional), I can tell you that this isn't necessarily the case.

Let's say you have some angry children (for the sake of discussion, our nostalgic EQ players), and you know that if you give them candy, they'll be happy.  You ask the children, "Do you want candy?  Like the stuff they give out at Halloween?  Chocolate, chips, rockets and raisins?!"  You said chocolate, and the children scream out "YES!" and make for you like a bard on selos.  Fooled them, you don't have chocolate, chips or rockets, you have raisins!!  Here's the raisins, now be happy.

SoE, I want fast travel with limitation, I want fast travel via player abilities or items.  I don't want fast travel requiring me to visit first.  If I wanted that, I'd play Guildwars 2.  But I'm getting off track, I'll come back to this!

"I would like a fast travel network between major cities/hubs only, not outside."

Interesting concept.  We can travel to and from major cities and hubs without exploring them first, just by (I'd assume) clicking them on a mini-map.  If I put on my time travel hat, that would bring me to.... AH HA!  Everquest with the Planes of Power expansion.  Magical little books you could click that would bring you ANYWHERE!  Hell, the book was the background for some of the promotional desktop backgrounds.  PoP was about clicky books!

Behold the next EverQuest Expansion, magical travel books!

And what did that do to the game... hrm.. It destroyed previous social hubs, creating one overly large hub.  I forgot how to get from major hub to major hub, I only memorized how to get from magical little book to magical little book.  Infact, you could summarize travel in Everquest at that point as a series of magical book clicking.

The world turned from this:

To this:

Each number beside a small circle represents a "book" you can click to go to a particular city

Of course, it also increased out mobility, which was awesome!  See, there were zones that were MUCH better for experience and loot, but it took a lot of effort to get there.  Not so much anymore!  We just all clicked the book, clicked another book, and ran for a few minutes.  No longer were we penalized for being across the world, or not near that "good zone".  We just clicked the book.

And it ended up turning zones that "were not the best" into abandoned zones.  Turning areas that promoted grouping and fun across the world (like those below):

I put in many hours on that table.

Into things like this:

This is the same room, fully spawned, because no one wants to go here anymore.

So where does that leave me and my opinion?!?

Glad you asked!  Here's my wish list.

Travel must:

1. Have an inherit risk that makes you think, "Is it worth it?"

I can think of no better "risky travel" than a jog through Kithicor.  It was the "short way" to many areas.

Reward (ie: better exp, better loot) without any risk is a no brainer.  And no brainers involve everyone, even the folks without brains that follow the folks with brains.  This ends up leaving us with largely abandoned zones and areas that are unattractive to the majority of players for multiple reasons, the two largest being: There is better reward elsewhere; I have no one to play with.

2. Require effort.

Even the Shadows of Luclin expansion required we sit in wizard spires for a few minutes to be ported to the moon.

Simply put, even I can just click a magic button to transport me anywhere, then I will always be exactly where I need to be.  Why bother running when I can just click?  I'd be putting myself behind as a player, and would have to purposely hinder my efficiency and effectiveness to "put in effort" when no effort is required.

3. Be restricted.

Druids could port anyone, but if you've evil you better be invisible!  The druid NPCs would attack you soon after being ported.

I don't mean impossible, restricted.  If I have a flying mount and I want to go across the world, I shouldn't be able to grab a flying mount from day 1 and zip across to the far corners of the world. I should encounter obstacles, monsters, or magic that fit with the lore and restrict my travel.  Same goes for running with my mount across the landscape.  I shouldn't be able to take my trusty steed up a 80 degree mountain, and I shouldn't expect to survive a swim across shark infested waters without a weapon and the skill to use it.

4. Require knowledge or exploration.

That first trip to Kunark was so full of exploration (and risk).  Once you learned the area the risk was reduced because of the knowledge you gained.

I'm an avid supporter of learning and knowing a game, especially MMOs.  In EverQuest you took the time to learn a dungeon, because when you were running from a train of frogloks you didn't have time to pull out your trusty EQ Atlas print outs and navigate out.  You relied on your knowledge of the zone!  If you didn't have that knowledge, you were exploring and you knew that it was risky (see point 1).

5. Have a safe place.
Everyone wants to finish up their playing somewhere safe.  No one wants to log into death, or a corpse run, or a mandatory fight for their lives.  If people can always "take their ball and go home" then they are more willing to take risks.

And how does this fit into my wants for EverQuest Next?

We have to understand that EverQuest isn't a typical MMO.  There is no levels, and as per our understanding most players can "unlock" a classes abilities within a few days.  That being said, we can assume that everyone would be able to unlock a druid or wizard in a relatively short amount of time.

Limiting quick travel to a class ability would be silly.  Everyone would basically be required to make one of their classes a Wizard or a Druid in order to port where they needed to be.  It would become a requirement for high end guilds and overall effective & efficient playing.  So I can safely say that porting should not be a class ability, based on our understanding of the current class system.

What about way points?  Using a "travel there first the long way" system we spend more time looking at our maps and less time actually exploring.  I think Guild Wars 2 offers the best example of this.  Look at a zone like Lion's Arch (below).

It's a very cool looking zone.  But I don't look at the zone, I look at this.

I found the way points once (those little diamonds), and I don't need to find them again.  If I'm going to the back, I click the way point beside the bank.  But what about zones outside the city, they don't have way points at the same density.  That's true, those maps look like this (with my route clearly marked as little circles):

Notice how I've selected the way point and then just ran straight to where I was going?  That's how it works.  Sure I could loop around like a bee, but then I'm making myself inefficient and uneffective in my loot finding and monster killing.

This leads me to my next example, maps.  Maps are great, these maps are incredible!  Based on the kind of game EverQuest Next is going to be, I think it would be a better fit to create, make, or loot maps than it would to just pop-up with a full map available once explored.  In the original EverQuest when maps came out, I found myself zooming out, lining up with where I wanted to go, and pressing NUMLOCK (auto run).  Who needed to explore when I could just look at the map and keep myself pointed in the right direction.  Again, I was spending more time looking at my map and less time looking at the actual game!

So I'm anti-detailed-map, anti-class-specific-ports and anti-way point, what do I want?

I believe there isn't enough information out yet for us to actually answer this.  But, if I had to throw out an ask based on my understanding, it would be this:

Give EverQuest Next city to city (or rally point) travel via ship and caravan.  Have roads between cities that are patrolled by guards, with guard houses posted at specific locations.  Encourage the travel of players overland in groups.  Players will learn the lay of the land and the paths associated with such travel.  Have faster paths of high risk, and slower paths of low risk.  It could be "travel through the spider lair" to get from City A to City B in 5 minutes, or, travel overland on a donkey with a traveling merchant caravan in 15 minutes.  Players should not be able to zip consistently across the world in 5 minutes, however, they should be able to travel from neighbouring city/hub to city/hub within relatively modest time frames (15minutes).

Allow players to have a home, and the ability to quick travel there.  I'm not talking player housing, I'm talking a bind point inside a city, a town, or some sort of community.  Give a lore reason for them to be able to quick travel there on a very infrequent basis (like a hearthstone).  People need the ability to get somewhere "safe" when they are done playing.  The one thing EQ did wrong was it KEPT YOU PLAYING UNTIL YOU FOUND A SAFE SPOT.

Reward travel.  Have the chance to save a rich merchant from bandits, or help a traveling party reward you for safely escorting them to their home.  Help repair the wheel of a traveler, or sober up a lost drunk in the woods.  Whatever it is, make sure that these rewards are only found by those that travel through various means without the use of quick travel.

In short:  Don't put way points all over the map, regardless of how they are accessed or used.  Don't give us free fast travel everywhere or anywhere.  Make it risky, make it rewarding, make it part of the game.

Thoughts to paper....

I've been an avid MMO player for as long as I can remember.  From the age of 12 I was slaying gnolls in Everquest, camping cross roads in WoW, Riding magic carpets in Everquest 2, and clashing light sabers in SWTOR.

Everquest has, and always will, be an important part of my gaming life.  I put in many hours, made many friends, and have experienced many styles, classes, zones, and play styles.

I felt that my thoughts were quickly being covered up on the incredibly popular Everquest Next Forums, so I sought out somewhere I could share my thoughts and ideas.  I want nothing more than Everquest Next to succeed, and become the game that I play for many years to come.