'It wasn't fun'

The MMORPG EverQuest Next isn't happening.

"When we decided to create the next chapter in the EverQuest journey, we didn't aim low," said Daybreak Games president R?ussell Shanks in an announcement today. "We set out to make something revolutionary ... Unfortunately, as we put together the pieces, we found that it wasn't fun."

The game wasn't meeting expectations internally and was unlikely to please fans either, according to Shanks, who notes "EverQuest and EverQuest II are going strong. Rest assured that our passion to grow the world of EverQuest remains undiminished."

As for Landmark, the sort of lead-in game to EverQuest Next, that's surprisingly still moving forward. It's launching this spring for $9.99 (specifics here for folks who put money into this thing).

Writing on the Daybreak forums, executive producer Holly Longdale said "Our vision for Landmark is to provide a place where you can create ANYTHING, tell your own stories, and share your creativity with other players. We are wrapping up a HUGE game update for Landmark with LOTS of new a??dditions and improvemen?ts, some of which you’ve already seen in sneak preview posts..."

I had to double check the last time we touched on EverQuest Next, and it looks like it was almost two years ago. Sounds about right. I completely forgot this existed! While it's disappointing to hear the developers couldn't find a way to make it work, it's go??od to have closure at?????????????????????????? last.

EQN News: A Letter from Daybreak's President [Daybreak Games]

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Currently Daybreak

John Smedley co-founded EverQuest developer Verant Interactive, which morphed into Sony Online Entertainment following EverQuest's huge success. He even hung on after Sony sold SOE earlier this year, turning it into Daybreak Game Company and laying off some SOE employees.

Smedley, however, has now stepped down as president an?d chief executive officer of Daybreak.

"I can confirm that John Smedley will be taking some time off from the company for the near-term and transitioning to a different role to be determined," a spokesperson for Daybreak told GamesBeat. "Upon finalization o?f his plans, further communication will be provided."

C??hief creative operating offi??cer Russell Shanks will take over for Smedley.

Smedley recently threatened to sue one of the hackers who took down Xbox Live and PSN during Christmas. Julius "zeekill" Kivimaki, 17, was found guilty of 50,700 charges and got two years probation. The group Kivimaki was apart of is the one responsible for in?tentionally diverting and landing one of Smedley's flights by calling in a bomb threat.

"I've also been swatted (multiple times) and had over 50 false credit applications submitted in my name and had t??o deal with the ramifications of what happens to your credit when this kind of thing happens, Smedley sa?id. "It's not good. And to top it all off they decided to submit false tax returns."

After Smedley, upset at the lenient sentencing, threatened to sue Kivimaki, remaining members of the group took Daybreak games (H1Z1, PlanetSide 2, etc.) offline wit?h a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack

Daybreak Game Comp?any&rsqu??o;s John Smedley steps down as chief executive officer [VentureBeat]

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Here's what's next in EQ Next

The Christmas issue of PC Gamer UK dives into some details on the upcoming EverQuest Next. One of those de?tails is a list of known classes, whi?ch includes Cleric, Necromancer, Beast Lord, and Tempest.

Here are the descriptions as provided by EQNexus:

Cleric - Wields either a two-handed hammer or a hammer and shield.?? Buffing and protecting allies is the typical ?Clerical duty, but these magic men and women do it with the power of fire, which gives them some killing power, too.

Necromancer - Wielding a tome or a dagger and focus obj??ect, the Necromancer summons destructive chaotic energies and comes with a companion:?? a Monstrosity that grows in power with its master.

Beast Lord - If you’re a fan of ‘trampling’ and ‘savaging,’ the Beast Lord’s furry friends make excellent companions. You can do your own savagin, too,? with a flail and shield combination, or a spear for medium range attacks.

Tempest - With two blades or one two-handed blade, the Tem?pest ‘dances across the battlefield’ and unleashes powerful winds ??and blasts of lightning. Ought to appeal to fans of action RPGs.

What's interesting about all of these classes is that they all use melee weapons, at least they will have the option to. Hopefully they figure out a g??ood way to break up the normal tank, healer, and DPS triangle that most games have come to rely on.

PC Gamer UK December 2013 via EQNexus

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It's going to be a lot like Minecraft

EverQuest Next posted a developer diary yesterday, showing off what the materials and tools will look like in Landmark. Players will start off with a copper pickaxe, and they will be able to start harvesting basic materials right away. Eventually they'll be able to do crazy things like carry lava around in a bucket, which is something that defies real-world logic and has to be inspired by Minecraft.

I can't even begin to scream loud enough to show how excited I am about this game. EverQuest Next and Landmark look like they are going to be amazing MMOs that will break away from the awful systems that plague most other MMOs out there. I want to run around in an online world with other people, and n??ot have to worry about killing ten boars. I want to build a castle and toss r?ocks at everyone passing by.

Everquest Next will be coming out next year, but Landmark  is supposed to launch this winter. You can sign up for the beta right now if you want to, and hopef??ully we'll all be playing it very soon.

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Watch the livestream to see what it's all about

Sony Online Entertainment's SOE Live event has just begun in Las Vegas. The big reveal for this event is Everquest Next, and it's an MMO the world "has never seen before" according ??to SOE P?resident John Smedley. What exactly are we going to see? Watch the livestream and find out!

Other news on games we can expect from the show include DC Universe Online, Planetside 2, Dragon's Prophet, Everquest 2, and more. Here's the live schedule for the entire weeken??d of? events that you can watch all below.

Watch live ?video from sonyonlinetv on www.tw?itch.tv

The post SOE reveals Everquest Next appeared first on Destructoid.

EverQuest may not be as genre-dominatingly popular as Wolrd of Warcraft, but the Sony Online developed series isn't something to be scoffed at in any way. With two games in the series under their belt the EverQuest devs have just slightly revealed what the third will be at Fan Faire 2010, the annual Sony Onl??ine ?event.

During SOE president John Smedley's community address he discussed some of EverQuest 2's upcoming features before revealing what SOE is calling EverQuest Next (working title). The screenshot above (yes, screenshot) is from said game, which is said to be more of a re-imagining of the series than a direct progression from EQ 1 and 2. Few other ?details were revealed as the team is very early in development on the game, but we do know that there ??will be a focus on Player vs. Player gameplay and a more engaging battle system. 

I've made my lack of love for MMOs readily apparent almost every weekend, so I'll leave the commentary to you guys. Assume I've placed a generic question about beating World of Warcraft right here.

SOE Community Address Rollup [EQ2 Wire, via Massively, via Giant Bomb]

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