CHANCES ARE THAT IF YOU FOLLOW EQ2, THERE'S ONLY ONE THING YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT TODAY.

And what would that be? That would be this. A certifiable deluge of game-changing additions that SOE conveniently decides to present to players now, in light of the recent days of NDAless EQ2 bashing.

First off, let me say that I will now scream like a fanboi in need of a new pair of pants. I hide no shame in that. From the text appearing on my screen, it seems there are some excellent changes incoming, many of which seem to take after single-player RPGs such as dynamic racial and character traits. Or perhaps they are merely recycling the EQ AA system, AO perk system, and DAOC realm ability system. Yes, this seems a likely motive in an effort to reach a deadline. But come on now. At least I tried the fanboi approach. Gold star for me.

Now that I have it out of my system, let's come back to earth. You see, we know a few things about SOE based on their track record.

The first thing we know is that SOE can be a veritable queen bee of ideas. Sure, they rip many ideas shamelessly from other MMOGs, but who doesn't? This MMOG industry is, for lack of a better word, incestuous. But somewhere, in there amongst all that useless grey matter that is concentrated on how to position Firiona Vie on the next boxcover, some great gameplay has emerged. The only problem SOE has it that many times the implementation of those said great ideas inevitably turns into a craptacular clusterfuck. And you're the lucky player if the fix/feature you wanted was that clusterfuck. Some needed additions just aren't touched at all until the time you've grown your beard, moved out of your mom's basement, and lost your virginity.

But hey, I can start off with a clean slate. It's obvious that is SOE's new plan after the recent criticism;

We’re releasing the final class spells and arts lists. These move away from the standard archetype spells and arts we’ve been using for balance testing and give players access to their class-specific spell selections. The spells and arts you’ll see in the next few updates include new effects, class-specific strengths and flavor, and final names.

These spell changes are taking place across the board and will greatly refine class differences from what they are today. We’ve completed the balancing necessary to give a solid role to each class and now we’re excited to release the new spell and art lists.

To illustrate how these changes work, we'll use the Mage -> Sorcerer -> Wizard progression as an example.

Unlike how it was in the previous spell lists, once you turn level 10 you stop being just a mage. As you choose your path and complete your quest, from that point forward you are a sorcerer. There are no new mage spells after level 10. Each class will be branch off into entirely class-specific spells.

Once you turn level 20 and choose the path of a wizard, you are no longer a sorcerer. As before, there are no new sorcerer spells after level 20. You will be gaining wizard subclass spells from there forward.

In other words, there is no longer any such thing as a "level 44 mage spell," because a high-level wizard should never think of himself or herself as a level 44 mage in EverQuest II.

You will still be able to do a number of the same things to keep being useful in your key roles, but with unique and interesting differences that are suitable to each of the classes and subclasses that branch out from the common base.

For example, all priests will continue to receive instant heals, but other heal types will be restricted based on class. Only shamans will get wards, only druids will get regens, and only clerics will get reactive heals.

Riiiiiiight. So those spells, arts and the class structure EQ2 had in place was merely there for balancing. Sure. I can believe that. Especially when I purposely ignore what Smedley, SOE Grand High Poobah, said the other day;

We will continue to add more and more diversity to the sub-classes as we've done in the past few months.. we're still not done! A lot of the cooler parts of the game reveal how truly unique the sub-classes actually are. Remember, items are also a big part of the way EverQuest made each character unique.. and yet you will always have the people that say "you have to have X item on your Tank to deal the most damage"... well one of our goals with EQ II was actually to broaden things by quite a bit. We've made design decisions that mean a much more diverse game opens up as your character rises in level. That's exactly what we've intended from the start. The character development system is really designed to make sure we keep things balanced all the way through character progression...

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2) Class Diversity - One of the things about EQ II that everyone should realize is that it is NOT EverQuest Live... nor is it intended to be. This isn't watered down EQ, EQ Lite or any such thing. It's just a fundamentally different experience from the ground up. It's designed to grow from less diversity at the lower levels to much more diversity at the higher ones. We think that we've been able to capture the soul of EverQuest and add some new and interesting twists to the overall experience. We've focused a massive amount of attention on Quests and storyline around the different classes.. and what we're seeing is the testers seem to like that focus. Our goal is to get players through the lower levels of the game quickly so that they can reach the point where the classes really diverge.

Here we have Smedley defending the character system as it was a day ago when classes shared spells and arts throughout all 50 levels. Here we have Smedley saying aforementioned character system will work, if you let him convince you. And here we have Smedley saying alot of the diversity revolves around class-specific quests and items (News Flash, Smed. When people say they are looking for class diversity in spells and abilities, they aren't looking for excuses that exclaim loot will solve it all, +100 Shadowknight sword be damned).

Fast forward one day and now we have Moorgard saying some new things. Some things that attempt to blind me and confuse me. Some things that don't click with what Smedley said because IT'S A NEW CHARACTER ABILITY SYSTEM.

Everquest 2 has discarded the archetype system SOE so proudly boasted about before. Yes, one class stems off another in Moorgard's system, but it is clearly a new frickin' system. No longer do classes carry similar abilities or spells through their 50 levels in an effort to keep class balance and ensure each and every class is wanted in a group (as was the stated reason behind the original archetype system). Now we have a Dark Age of Camelot melee class type system where one class picks off where its infant class diverged, and takes up new abilities not available to any other class.

So, in summation, we have this;

One day ago the Priest class diverged into 3 higher classes, with each new class providing a different type of heal spell. Each new class (Druid, Cleric, Shaman) could use any of the heal spells (Ward, Instant, HOT), and this was proudly demonstrated as a clear example of the benefits of the EQ2 archetype system.

Today we have "the archetype system we always intended to have", where each of the 3 new classes get different heal spells, but are not able to use the heal spells available to the other 2 new classes.

An_EQ2_Employee says, "We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia. We have always been allied with Eastasia. Carry on, citizen. Big Smed is watching you.".

Personally, I like the change. Really. There was a distinct lack of abilities/spells, and I'm a sucker for being individual. The lists as shown a day ago were not going to pull off any "The classes are diverse!" argument, no matter how you looked at it.

It's comforting, in an icky I-just-hugged-the-Poopsmith kind of way, that SOE listened to the hounds at its door. Yet, we have less than a month until EQ2 is pushed out the door to do battle with WoW.

I, for one, am expecting one hell of a patching job in release week. But hey, could we expect anything less?

Comments

[D 0ne]

Somethings never change. Sony still practices double speak and double think and they could care less about releasing a tested finished product. Yep, that's the Sony we all know and love.

If you are foolish enough to buy EQII please for the love of all that is holy do not bitch. Allow me to prepare for my "I told you so.".
1. EQII is broken.
2. EQII will have a Godly toon and a really, really, broken toon.
3. EQII will have a lot of lag, bugs and a lot of exploits.

[Cosmik]

Not to mention the fabulous customer support.