‘SOE Live’ is now over and some (cryptic) information has come out for the new MMORPG kid on the block, Everquest Next. But one of the major glaring omissions from the information shoveled carefully spoon fed out to the awaiting masses is PVP implementation. Perhaps though we can read the tea leaves and see maybe there’s more than what you would find at first glance. I would like to take you down the rabbit hole with me, as we explore the possibility of faction PVP in Everquest Next.
First to establish that there will be factions in #EQN and to what extent will their importance be.
We know that factions are important because John Smedley tweeted this in response to a question about factions:
With that established we now turn to SOE Live.
Specifically I’m going to look at two questions that happened at the Q&A Panel. For brevity I have omitted non-pertinent crosstalk. Link to the panel video included below. The three devs that are answering the questions are Dave Georgeson, Terry Michaels, and Darren McPherson.
Regarding Faction or its equivalent in the emergent AI to what extent will it shut players off from content for example. Me and my guildies start up in Qeynos and do like good Qeynusies and clear out gnolls nearby. One of our guildie friends does what he always does with his character which is kill merchants and sell the loot to the gnolls. Is he going to be shut out from questing with us because he’s not going to come into Qeynos or share our quests or anything. Unless of course he…he… [snip] Will there be no place for him in our guild cause he can’t quest with us?
So great question. We want you to be able to play how you want and who you want with the friends you have. So having locked in exclusivity for I can’t go to Qeynos anymore – would be difficult. There’s a balance to be struck there and it’s something we’re still working through, so that’s a great question.
And remember the game remembers things that you’ve done and it impacts the world around you.
Yes.
We want you to be making choices that matter. And so, They’re going to be consequences for the choices of your friend that are going to be different from the consequences that you choose to partake in.
From this exchange we know that Darren has expressed looking for a balance, but in-between those comments Dave and Terry stressed the importance of choice having consequences. At that point you see Darren nod in agreement with the two gentlemen. The one main thing you get from this answer is that choice has consequences.
Now we will look at the second question.
Top Question on reddit right now is for me to ask about racism. Specifically, will NPCs or entire towns of humans kill you on sight for being a dark elf and vice versa?
Yeah. Good Question. So, We answered something similar to this the other day. It just touches on the stuff we already talked about. We aren’t going to release the details of the lore. But when you log into the game, orcs won’t like you. And they will kill you. That’s a race in the game. What you do…will determine…what the races do and how they view you. Without giving away spoilers to how the story works, you will be KOS to some things, some people, some races for sure.
Will those be races that other players are apart of?
Right. (shakes head in agreement, smiling)
And that’s the answer we can’t give you.
That’s the answer we can’t give you right now. Right?
First off, awesome top question reddit! Very nice, but let’s look into the answer more.
When we look at these given points of information together:
- NPCs will be KOS based on how that race ‘feels’ towards you.
- Players will be of the same race that these KOS races are.
- Smedley’s tweet about factions “You have no idea how far we’re going with them.”
- Choices matter, even if that means you might be separated from other players/towns.
And perhaps the most insignificant moment is the most poignant.
- After Darren McQuid’s confirming other players will be playing the same race that you may be KOS to, Dave Georgeson says “And that’s the answer we can’t give you.”
Why? Why can’t they answer that? They already had in fact. Why would Dave feel the need to step in? So I don’t really see why it would be such a big deal to talk about players being of the same race/faction as NPCs that are KOS to you. Unless…
Unless that means those players would be KOS to you as well?
‘Til next week,
Down the Rabbit Hole We Go…
Q.
joystick love 