During Sony Online Entertainment’s annual Fan Faire event this weekend, they had quite the surprise for their loyal EverQuest fans: The first reveal of the next brand-new title in the franchise, with the appropriate working-title EverQuest Next.
Details are still a little scarce, but Massively reports that SOE president John Smedley revealed two pieces of “in-game art” (as opposed to “concept art,” although we’re not sure exactly what that means, as at least the second image — below — definitely looks like hand-drawn art), and also gave a few vague ideas of how it’s shaping up. According to EQ2Wire’s report of the presentation (via VG247), Smedley said EverQuest Next will be more influenced by EverQuest 1 than EverQuest 2, but “more stylized” than the original game. EverQuest Next will also be more of a “reimagining” than a direct sequel to 1 and 2, and it’ll have “more interesting” combat and will “deliver the story lines and role in another way than clicking through NPC dialog boxes.” It’s also apparently being designed “from the ground up with PVP in mind.”
Still, Smedley pointed out the game is early in development, and raid and group sizes haven’t even been settled yet. He also said the next couple of days at Fan Faire will be more about collecting player feedback than detailing too much more about the game.
