EverQuest Legends, the EverQuest spinoff that remixes an old-school version of the early MMORPG into a multiclassing, froglok-murdering ARPG minmaxer’s paradise, has a lot on the way. In a recent Twitch stream, developers from Daybreak Games and Game Jawn floated some pretty big ideas for the future: perhaps most notably, all-new classes that weren’t in the original EverQuest at all.
“Definitely, I think, long-term we have discussed additional races, additional classes. Is it realistic to have another class by [the upcoming expansion] Kunark? I don’t think so,” said Daybreak executive producer David Youssefi. “But definitely would not rule it out for the longer-term vision of the game. In fact, I’m sure we would.” Game Jawn CEO and technical director Eda Spause chimed in, “Yeah, absolutely.”
Granted, they were careful to temper expectations. Before Youssefi said that, lead content designer Eric Wellman addressed the topic by saying it’s “a matter of how much work, and is it worth the work.” Spause replied, “I’m of the opinion it would be, however, that opinion is also at odds with the reality of how much we have to do.” In other words, this is less a guarantee and more an optimistic plan for the future.
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While, for the most part, Legends is just a casual-friendly remix of an old game, this particular long-term ambition calls to mind Old School RuneScape and the oft-rumored ‘Classic+’ version of World of Warcraft taking after the game’s private server scene. Every class playable in even the modern version of the original EverQuest is already represented, so the addition of new classes would see Legends join the chorus of MMOs and live service games building new stuff using an old version as scaffolding.
And while Legends already has an original playable race in the catlike kerran and revamped zones here and there, I’d argue new playstyles are the bigger deal in a game all about concocting builds and farming phat loots. As for what those classes would even be, it’s hard to say.
EverQuest has so many classic D&D-style fantasies represented that it started splitting hairs between wizards and magicians—pretty thematically narrow things like beastlords and berserkers made it in eventually. I’m sure EverQuest 2 can provide some inspiration, what with its coercers, defilers, and other sub-classes with oddly vague names.
In the meantime, check out PC Gamer news writer Joshua Wolens’ impressions on EverQuest Legends, where he called the game “an MMO for MUD enjoyers and Morrowind perverts—no longer hard, but still authentically idiosyncratic … the Linux of MMOs.”
