On the 25th anniversary of the MMORPG Everquest, the developers discuss the features that distinguish their MMORPG from others. Clearly, they repeatedly mention the major successor WoW from Blizzard.
What step have the developers at Everquest taken? In the MMORPG Everquest, there is no group finder. The Creative Director, Kyle Vallee, says in an interview with PC Gamer:
“Some MMOs have group finders for everything. You go into a group finder, you enter the zone, you don’t talk to the other players, you clear the zone as quickly as you can, and you leave. There’s no discussion. In our games, you have to talk to other players if you want to find a group. We once had a group finder, but we felt it took away the sense of community from the game, so we got rid of it.”
The phrase “some MMOs have group finders for everything” is clearly aimed at WoW and MMORPGs that emerged in the wake of Blizzard’s fantasy multiplayer online role-playing game.
Since WoW introduced the group finder in 2009, the feature has become standard in many games.
Why are old MMORPGs like Everquest still played today?
In other MMORPGs, I play 100% solo
Why does Everquest forgo the group finder? The Creative Director states: In his view, other MMORPGs have completely lost sight of the community focus. It seems as if players are given no tools to build a community.
In the few MMORPGs he plays, he is always on his own. He doesn’t join any groups. There are simply not the tools available to build communities.
In Everquest, such solo play is hardly possible, the MMORPG is just too challenging.
WoW introduced the feature in 2009
How is it with WoW? In “WoW,” the automatic group finder was introduced in 2009 with update 3.3 “The Fall of The Lich King.” This was a patch for Wrath of the Lich King.
Many WoW players who played the game before 2009 view the group finder critically because it has diminished the need to build a good reputation on a server and to create a friends list.
While the group finder is seen as convenient and certainly offers a high level of comfort, it has also been repeatedly viewed as Blizzard’s step that led WoW in the wrong direction.
The path shifted away from focused play in a group with agreements and social obligations, towards a pure “run through the dungeon, ignore each other, and collect loot” game.
What’s behind it: Of course, Daybreak is taking this opportunity on the 25th anniversary of Everquest to say, “We are still here. We are different. We are the original”: For this, they brought journalists to San Diego and engaged them at the community event.
The developers also raise interesting thoughts.
Nevertheless, it is unlikely that anyone will seriously consider starting Everquest anew in 2024. A guild member tried to get me around 2003 to check out the great Everquest, the MMORPG he had been enthusiastically playing for years. And I ran out screaming at the time because the game looked completely outdated.
That was 20 years ago.
Nonetheless, the thoughts expressed by the developers are all exciting and worth considering. It’s an interesting “what if?” question to think about how our gaming world would look if Blizzard hadn’t introduced the group finder in 2014, which is now standard in many games: The 5 biggest “WoW-killers” that were killed by WoW
