Last week, MMORPG posted an interview with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson.

The article is a bit light on revelations and threw a few softballs like “The Dungeon Maker is a brilliant addition to the game.  Can we expect more functionality now that it seems like the community loves the feature so much?” , it could still be an interesting read, especially players looking for any scrap of information about the upcoming fourth game in the EverQuest franchise (you didn’t think we forgot about EQOA, did you?).

Great ideas only really shine if you’re first to market with them. So we’re giving ourselves lead time against our competitors by being as close-mouthed about the game as we can until we feel like we’ve got a bit of a lead for launch. And then we’ll talk about it. You can’t imagine how much we want to talk about it. We’re bursting.But for now, all I can say are the things I’ve said before: a) It’s a reimagining of the Norrathian universe of characters and places; b) It’s utilizing the same Forgelight MMO engine that “Planetside 2” is using (and that engine is looking incredible right now), and c) this is not the MMO you’re used to playing. We aim to make something extremely different this time around. High-fantasy? You betcha.  Norrath? You bet, but expect some twists. Magic? Swords? Sorcery? Yup, yup, and yup. But beyond that…imagine all you want. Our aim is to make something cooler than what’s in your head.

Although EQNext is still pretty much top secret, Zoltaroth did post a picture of some members of the EQ2 and EQNext teams at a paintball range. Hey, we’ll take anything we can get including a pic of Rothgar’s armory.

From SOE’s Facebook page (as well as their EverQuest2 Facebook page):

EQ NEXT – help create the new chapter for the incredible EverQuest franchise, pushing design and technological boundaries to evolve the MMO genre. The Team is looking for a Senior AI Engineer, a Senior UI Engineer, a Senior Client Engineer and a Senior Tools Engineer. Join SOE as we forge a new world! http://corporate.station.sony.com/careers.vm

EQNext logo above is an artist’s conception and is NOT an official logo.

Although we were advised last night that there wouldn’t be much news about EQNext at this year’s Fan Faire, we did get a screenshot, albiet as an example of the new Forge Light MMO engine created by SOE to develop PlanetSide Next and EQNext.

It certainly looks better than some previous images we’ve seen.

Linda “Brasse” Carlson is starting out with the sponsors and and then about GameBreaker.tv’s live cast of the event. Vivox is also broadcasting the event in-game.

Talking about the panels tomorrow including Dev War Stories, also tomorrow night’s Pool Party. Introducing Backstage Bloggers using Bloggie cameras. Showing pictures of Guides in different SOE games.

SOE President John Smedley coming to the stage… Prepare for big announcements…
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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.

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Here are the EQNext screen shots, concept art, and artist sketches which were presented at Fan Faire 2010. We have gone back to the original photos and done digital cleanup as best we can.

Note that the Freeport (red building) and Greater Faydark images are IN-GAME SCREEN SHOTS. The remainder of images are Concept Art.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Fellow Adventurers,

We wanted to share this information with you here, rather than having you read about it on another site. The EQII community is a large part of the ongoing success of SOE, and the game is in a strong position to succeed. Development continues unabated on EverQuest II, and you can look forward to a Producer’s Letter next week with more information about what lies ahead for the game’s development in 2011.

For those who wish to comment, please use THIS thread. It will remain unlocked as long as conversation remains constructive and polite. Our CMs and Mods have been asked to redirect all other related posts to this one as well.

~Linda “Brasse” Carlson

Director, Global Community Relations

Following is the official notice that you may see on other sites:

As part of a strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce, SOE announced today that it will eliminate 205 positions and close its Denver, Seattle and Tucson studios.  As part of this restructuring, SOE is discontinuing production of The Agency so it can focus development resources on delivering two new MMOs based on its renowned PlanetSide and EverQuest properties, while also maintaining its current portfolio of online games.  All possible steps are being taken to ensure team members affected by the transition are treated with appropriate concern.

This strategic decision will have no impact on SOE’s current portfolio of live games; additionally SOE will transition development efforts for the Denver and Tucson studios’ suite of products to its San Diego headquarters.  This strategic alignment of development resources better positions SOE to remain a global leader in online gaming and deliver on its promise of creating entertaining games for players of all ages, and servicing the 20 million players that visited SOE servers in just the past year.

UPDATE: I have honored a request to remove the video links from this article to the website where they appeared. They were preliminary work-in-progress artwork and not authorized for public release.

Thanks to a tip, EQ2Wire has located the first high quality video of EQnext character models in action. The video includes a series of character animation loops with sound effects. A human male knight, followed by a skeletal warrior, and an orc are shown fighting and doing other emotes.

EQNext Screen Shots and Concept Art from Fan Faire 2010 have moved to their own article.

We posted some very fuzzy screen shots from the EQNext panel yesterday. Today, the panel was repeated to get more feedback and show off a few new images. The panel was moderated by SOE President John Smedley talking about and getting player input into early development third game in the EverQuest stable.

UPDATE: The images in this article have been superseded. Check out the new article
EQNext Screen Shots and Concept Art from Fan Faire 2010

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This is the second Q&A panel for eqnext. We will be giving input and asking questions that go into the design of the game.

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Our live blog from the first EQNext panel.

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Juan (olihin) pvp eq2 dev

There were the first 2 screenshots of EQNext which had ever been shown publicly.

UPDATE: The images below have been replaced with much higher quality captures.