EverQuest Next may have dazzled us with promises of a destructible fantasy world and parkour-trained heroes during the MMORPG’s recent unveiling, but once you ventured beyond the carefully prepared videos and statements, you ran into a near-unassailable wall of evasive answers. Key features such as PvP and group-based combat remain cloaked in secrecy, as does that all-important ingredient to an MMO's well-being: social interaction. Regardless, based on little slips I heard throughout the weekend and in my own chats with the developers, I was able to scrounge up a rudimentary understanding of what awaits those of us who still play MMORPGs to meet and interact with new people.
Grouping and chitchat aside, one of the most intriguing examples of how we'll be able to impact the lives of our fellow players dropped in a stray comment during the Q&A panel on the Saturday of the SOE Live event that EQN was revealed at. At one point, a player asked if environmental damage would exist in EverQuest Next, offering the example of destroying a building and using it to cause damage to surrounding monsters. The answer from David Georgeson, EverQuest Next's director of development, was surprisingly direct: "Yes, that is our intent. When something is destroyed or blows up, that might create additional damage for people nearby, like area of effect."
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