I just wanted to put my two cents in. I\'ve never played EverQuest, but I DID spend about eight months playing Dark Age of Camelot. I\'d like to put my opinions out here for the consideration of the design team.
There is only one thing so far that I can see about what Vengeance has said that troubles me. I don\'t mind grouping with people, when they aren\'t irresponsible time-wasters who pull mobs before the party is ready and end up getting everybody killed (over and over and over again). It\'s true, everybody is new at one time, and everybody has to learn--but I say that I shouldn\'t be FORCED to group with somebody who has three level 50 PCs and still does idiotic things.
My primary game time is between 2am and 6am, Central Standard Time (USA), which means (at least when I was playing DAoC), that I\'m often the only experienced player online, and when I DO find people who want to group, they\'re ones who get my character killed REPEATEDLY, which costs me (and the character) in terms of XPs, money, and (most importantly) time.
In addition, there is the problem that when I log on, there are usually precious few others on the server with me. If they have a group, it\'s normally full or (even more frequently) they\'re not in my level range, which means I\'m left to *gasp* solo. If I don\'t solo, I don\'t get XPs, and if I don\'t get XPs, what\'s the point in playing the game?
If you want to encourage grouping, that\'s one thing, but don\'t set the game up so that it\'s IMPOSSIBLE to level while playing solo. I\'m not trying to be antisocial; I think it\'s much more antisocial to force people to group when there\'s no way in hell they\'re going to get along (or succeed), which will make the game less enjoyable for everyone.
Group quests are fine, but there should also be several available for solo PCs. Likewise with monsters.
That said, I now want to focus on the things I LIKE about Planeshift. Everybody, so far, has been doing a fantastic job--and I\'ve only seen the pre-alpha version (I know there\'s a lot more that\'s been done, and I\'m extremely anxious to see it).
The graphics are smooth and detailed, the music is very professional, and the GUI interactions are top-of-the-line.
The races are all very imaginative, and I like the revisions that have been done to the dwarf (unfortunately they aren\'t available in pre-alpha).
Furthermore, I like the fact that everybody who plays the game (at this stage, at least) has a chance to contribute to the game\'s development--and their contributions are taken seriously.
And, of course, I like the fact that it\'s free, and that it\'s guaranteed to stay that way. There is one concern I have in this department, though--what about advertisements? There\'s nothing in any of Planeshift\'s documentation, agreements, or licenses that says they can\'t sell advertising space, and I wouldn\'t put it past anybody (especially anybody from a capitalist nation, such as my own) to pull in some profits for the \"Non-profit organization,\" start pocketing a salary, and let the gamers suffer with in-game advertisements.
Can anybody put this fear to rest? I won\'t believe it\'s not going to happen until it gets put into the company\'s official documentation.
