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.