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 https://discord.gg/qMQZb8heRQ EverCraft Online is a a fantasy voxel-based MMO heavily inspired by EverQuest. It's in a very early alpha state, but the experience available so far is great - especially if you're nostalgic for the old-school MMO days. While the game is mostly closed to the public at this stage, they're holding a  public alpha test starting at noon on 4/19/2023. This test is scheduled to go all weekend.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mmW-bMuLvQ This sounds like EverQuest. ECO is heavily inspired by EQ, so if you've played EQ before you'll feel quite at home. A lot of the class names and many of the design decisions (e.g. in-game money being copper / silver / gold / platinum) are basically taken directly from EQ. However, this isn't an exact EQ clone! They've built their classes from the ground-up, keeping some of the core elements of the classes intact while putting their own unique spin on them. They've built a seamless world completely from scratch, and what they have so far is beautiful.       more screenshots on their website: https://evercraftonline.com/ Ok, it's voxel art. Why did they choose that art style? Using voxel art allows their dev team the ability to rapidly develop and deploy content. It also allows them access to pick from a large pool of talented voxel builders to help create the world. As an example, one of their builders can plop down a new building in the matter of an hour using Minecraft-style build tools, and they can then import it into the server database. This takes a huge burden off the dev team. Also, voxel is actually quite cool. Everything is math based - for example, they can identify what type of block you're standing on and use that to augment wizard spells. What else do I need to know? Well, for one, you aren't gonna get scammed out of money playing this alpha because they aren't taking any! That's right, this project is self-funded by a dev team who are building this as a labor of love. They aren't trying to sell you anything right now, they're just trying to make a great game that's fun to play, and they want you to experience it! And for the record, I've played it across a few alpha testing sessions, and I've enjoyed each time I've had the privilege of playing. If you loved old-school MMOs and you have a few hours this weekend, and you decide NOT to jump in and play for a short bit, you're doing yourself a disservice. Oh, and the music is amazing. Listen to that track and tell me the MIDI soundscape doesn't encapsulate late 90's MMOs perfectly! There's probably more I should put in this post but screw that! The game's in alpha! I'll maybe come back and edit this some more later. Ruggan fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Apr 19, 2024 |
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Dec 2, 2022 05:25
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updating this post 4/19/24, will remove when doneOpen Alpha Test 4/19/2024 - 4/21/2024? The open Alpha begins at 12:00PM CST, Friday 4/19/2023. This is an all-weekend event, so it'll probably be up until Sunday or Monday. Your progress will not persist, so just jump in and have fun. I wouldn't bother trying to min-max, or worry about picking the "optimal class". How do I join? First, join the game's discord server. Once you're in there, check the "Announcements" and "Getting-Started" channels for all the instructions on how to register an account and download the client. Okay, but what class should I play? Play whatever. The game is a little less brutally punishing than EQ, so pick what sounds interesting to you. Last open alpha I played a Warrior and I enjoyed myself. In general, a lot of the EQ meta still holds true - at lower levels, pet classes are still a bit OP (e.g. Magician, Necro). Tips and tricks I'm no expert, but here are a few things: - If you're a Necromancer, do not wander around town aimlessly. You're KOS to some NPCs, like the guards outside the Paladin guild, and they'll one-shot you. You belong in the sewers. - Save up money from your loot to buy some bags from the city vendors - expanding your inventory helps out a ton. - Once you're level 2 or 3, run down the path out of Leont's city gates to find a bandit camp. That camp has some good newbie loot, including basic leather armor, which increases survivability quite a bit. - There's some quest that involves finding a sharpening stone from the golems somewhere outside the city walls and giving that to the blacksmith who will then sharpen a dull weapon for you. If you're a melee class, this also helps increase your damage quite a bit. IIRC this was doable around level 3 or so? Also, this last alpha there were sharp weapons for sale in the warrior's guild for anyone allowing you to fully bypass needing to do the quest, but I think this might not be permanent. I'll add notes to this list if I think of anything else. Ruggan fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Apr 19, 2024 |
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Dec 2, 2022 05:26
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 Necromancers accidentally visiting the Paladin guild.  rear end serpent. 
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Dec 2, 2022 05:27
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Been following this for a while. Excited for the test this weekend!
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Dec 2, 2022 14:54
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This game rules.
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Dec 3, 2022 03:06
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My enthusiasm is slightly above mild. I'll be watching.
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Dec 3, 2022 04:29
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What do the classes do? What's the difference between a magican, enchanter, and wizard?
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Dec 3, 2022 13:31
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Jackard posted:What do the classes do? What's the difference between a magican, enchanter, and wizard? Assuming they’re analogous to Everquest, Wizard = nukes (and maybe the ability to portal themselves and others around the world), chanter = control, buffs, debuffs and maybe charming monsters to fight for you, magician = nukes (less than a Wizard but still strong) but also with a strong pet/pets.
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Dec 3, 2022 14:00
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Jackard posted:What do the classes do? What's the difference between a magican, enchanter, and wizard? Yeah they’re pretty analogous at this point from what I understand. Wizards are damage focused casters - most of their spells are directly dealing damage to enemies. Magicians are summoner/utility focused casters with a pet (which is quite strong) and some lesser direct damage spells. Enchanters are more CC focused casters typically. I haven’t played any in ECO yet, so I can’t really tell you more than that.
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Dec 3, 2022 15:51
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This seems super cool, unfortunately saw this thread very late and realized its Sunday and the test is over. Next time.
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Dec 5, 2022 00:35
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Much like the time I tried out EQ last year, I spent about 10 minutes in this game before giving up in confusion and frustration. It’s nothing about the quality of the game, it’s just that EQ and it’s spiritual successors all feel that “discovery” is a proper way to learn to play a game and in my mid-30’s, I have absolutely no patience for a game that doesn’t respect my time by giving me anything to work with from minute one. From what I can see though, the EQ crowd will love this game!
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Dec 6, 2022 00:16
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Pryce posted:I have absolutely no patience for a game that doesn’t respect my time by giving me anything to work with from minute one. gently caress yeah I will
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Dec 6, 2022 01:18
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For those of you who tested it, how much of EQ's idiosyncrasies did it copy? Is it nearly 1:1 or are there major differences in class mechanics/viability?
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Dec 7, 2022 00:16
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Freakazoid_ posted:For those of you who tested it, how much of EQ's idiosyncrasies did it copy? Is it nearly 1:1 or are there major differences in class mechanics/viability? It's a mix. The classes have the core themes (necros have pets and lifetap, mages have pets, enchanters charm, druids snare and root and teleport) but they've added to them. Warriors get stances and more active abilities based off of stamina. Same with rogues. Paladins get a couple of nice buffs for their group, etc. Overall the game so far is a "yes, and..." on EQ. Nights are still really dark. The inventory and trade systems are the same. Questing still is done through chatting about things in [brackets]. Death means a naked corpse run. HP and mana regen pretty slowly without buffs. But also there are actually traps in dungeons that rogues can detect and disarm (EQ had this in like... 2 places?). There are campfires that your group can sit around for faster HP regen and TBD other benefits. They intend to add voxely things like mages being able to summon bridges. That sort of stuff to build upon a very EQ-like core. Sachant fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Dec 7, 2022 |
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Dec 7, 2022 01:19
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I hope this doesn't fizzle out somewhere because that all sounds great.
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Dec 7, 2022 01:40
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The dev team is really passionate and everyone contributing is doing so from a love of old MMOs and not money, I don't really see it fizzling out. What's going to take a while is content generation, though. There's a lot of stuff that has to be built in an MMO world to make it feel as immersive as it should be, and there's a long road ahead to make that a reality.
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Dec 13, 2022 04:06
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this is definitely the MMO i'm most excited for
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Dec 14, 2022 17:13
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Minecraft buildings are cool, Minecraft characters are cringe. Please sink millions of dollars into developing cel shaded anime style characters thanks
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Dec 15, 2022 18:49
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Pryce posted:Much like the time I tried out EQ last year, I spent about 10 minutes in this game before giving up in confusion and frustration. I'm sorry the video game doesnt respect you. Goondolences.
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Dec 19, 2022 01:42
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This looks amazing and I can't believe it flew under my radar for as long as it did. Hopefully there are more tests in the near future, would love to dive in!
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Dec 20, 2022 00:28
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Lol Ruggan I just realized you were on some dude's stream and said "wanna join" and he didn't reply.
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Dec 20, 2022 01:13
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LuckyCat posted:Lol Ruggan I just realized you were on some dude's stream and said "wanna join" and he didn't reply. lmao yeah that happened a few times
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Dec 20, 2022 15:04
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I played with Ruggan a little bit, at least near the end! I was the enchanter for the last group we had
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Dec 20, 2022 15:48
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Surprise alpha tonight: https://discord.com/channels/804170096082681876/832695642035322920/1088950033551990855
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Mar 24, 2023 23:38
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Saw this, but unfortunately I’m out of town this week. Jump on and let me know how it goes!
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Mar 25, 2023 03:44
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So I only just learned about this, and while I am very, VERY excited, I do have to ask... Is this courting a lawsuit for plagiarism? It's very clearly aping after classic EverQuest, but I shared some images from their promotional website with friends and one of the first reactions was "Wow, they're going to get sued," and... Well, yeah, looking at everything in total, I am wondering if they're liable to be taken to court by Daybreak. The race list from the Character Creation screenshot they have up is straight up the EverQuest race list circa 1999, including Erudites.
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Mar 28, 2023 01:34
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Not likely, and some of the race/class stuff is placeholder. The world isn't Norrath and doesn't have any actual IP from the game. Nontrivial spells have been renamed (e.g. SoW is renamed to Wolven Spirit or something like that).
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Mar 28, 2023 01:53
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I don't even think Shards of Dalaya and games that use the literal EverQuest client have had any problems. E: I guess they're not profiting off it tho
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Mar 29, 2023 01:00
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How are the dungeon crawls in this?
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Apr 7, 2023 21:03
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LuckyCat posted:I don't even think Shards of Dalaya and games that use the literal EverQuest client have had any problems. I think some of the emulated servers, even though not directly profiting, have had legal issues before, at least when hosted within the United States. But at the same time, those are using another company's software
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Apr 7, 2023 21:36
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DangerDongs posted:How are the dungeon crawls in this? There's a small underground dungeon right now (more like a WoW cave in scale) that's better suited for crawling, and a slightly larger open-air dungeon/fort that's better suited for camping. They're still working on the first big real dungeon and it isn't finished yet AFAIK but it's pretty massive inside like a regular EQ dungeon. Everything is open-world, no zone lines or instances.
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Apr 8, 2023 00:06
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edit: nvm I was confused
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Apr 27, 2023 22:56
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This is up for a flash test tonight - jump in if you want! If you're hoping for a real playtest weekend though, now might not be the time. I don't know that it's extending far beyond tonight. Ruggan fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Aug 5, 2023 |
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Aug 5, 2023 01:38
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They're doing another test on 9/1
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Aug 23, 2023 05:15
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everything about the gameplay appeals to me, and I totally understand the inclination to use art that allows devs to rapidly develop, but the art just kills it for me 
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Aug 26, 2023 21:15
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Sachant posted:They're doing another test on 9/1 Yep. I’ll update the OP for it. 1024x768 posted:everything about the gameplay appeals to me, and I totally understand the inclination to use art that allows devs to rapidly develop, but the art just kills it for me FWIW it’s a lot better than you’d think looking at screenshots, IMO. But yea, they’ve even noted that it’s challenging to escape the “it looks like Minecraft” reaction that people have as a first visual impression.
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Aug 26, 2023 22:41
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Well the pictures alone sold me from the first post, holy crap.
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Aug 28, 2023 18:41
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Test starts mid-day today (1P CST). There's no guarantee of test length and progress won't be kept, so there's no pressure to min-max or find the "best" class to play, just jump in and try something out. The client download is small for a game (500MB) so if you have any interest you should give it a try - I've really enjoyed the few times I've played. I'm really intrigued by the War Wizard class - as far as I can tell, it's a sort of spellsword. I guess there are ways for it to function as either a dps or tank. But I'm likely to run a warrior again, as I had a good time as one in the last few alphas. Maybe I'll give the War Wizard a try.
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Sep 1, 2023 15:49
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Im tryin this game out in this playtest and i picked war wizard cause it sounded cool. Its very classic mmo. Me and another waited at the entrance of a dungeon for folks to roll up, joined with them, and then camped the boss for an hour
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Sep 2, 2023 06:23
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Easley the best modded Minecraft I've ever played. It looks better during play then what you see in the screen shots and gameplay did a really Good job capturing the feel of EQ
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Sep 2, 2023 16:28
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