2010 Fan Faire EQNext Feedback Panel VIDEOS

It’s time to work through the backlog of videos from last year’s Fan Faire so the slate is clean for 2011.

We recorded the two EQNext panels from last year’s Fan Faire in decent audio and video quality and are glad to be able to share them with you in the weeks running up to Fan Faire 2011.

We’re still anxiously awaiting a finalised schedule for this year’s Fan Faire, running from July 7-9, in blistering Las Vegas (where else?). We understand that last minute changes are still being made. For one thing, we’re hopeful that either the EQ2 Mechanics or first ever SOE Geek Panel can be shuffled, otherwise I’ll have to make a hard choice.  Notably absent from the posted schedule on SOEFanFaire.com are any mention of PlanetSide Next or EQNext. The former already has some kind of splashy introduction planned, while SOE has remained mum on the latter.

At last year’s Fan Faire, SOE President John Smedley made a surprise announcement at the Welcome Reception introducing EQNext and inviting players to Feedback panels on Friday and Saturday mornings. Players were able to see concept art and screenshots of the in-progress EQNext, as well as provide their feedback to the team. We attended these two panels and share those videos with you.

The first video starts with the Welcome Reception announcement, then a rather shaky clip of John Smedley stating that a name would not yet be given for the game, that “EQNext” is the codename being used. Give it a few seconds for video #3 to start which is good quality video and audio and represents the quality of the rest of the videos. He announces Clint Worley as Senior Producer of EverQuest Next. In closing, Smedley indicated that EQNext is still a ways out, but not nearly as far as we probably think.

The second panel starts out with a rather beleaguered-looking EQNext team once again taking player suggestions and questions. Although they looked like they’d overdone it at the popular Pool Party, they were very open to any and all questions, and got into the philosophy of MMO design. It’s worth a watch to see some of the unrealistic questions that people have, and how the team handles them.

Note: I did record about 20 minutes each of the Lore and EQ2 Extended panels but due to battery life on my camera did not get them all. If there is interest in seeing these brief videos, I could be persuaded to post them. They do not include the Q&A sections which dominated most of the EQ2 panels last year. Unfortunately we do not have any of the Friday EQ2 Q&A panel. I’ll be rolling with FOUR camcorder batteries this year and an audio recording setup so no missed panels!