00:02So in other MMOs, NPCs are completely static, so regardless of what peril they're telling you their village is in
00:09or what big threat is looming on the horizon, they're doing the same things over and over again. You're on
00:13a treadmill and you know that the same story is waiting for the next player who comes along.
00:17When you have events that are more complex than just a linear quest, usually they have huge scripts that control
00:26them.
00:26In EQNX, you won't walk into an area and see a group of NPCs standing around with question marks over
00:31their heads. Instead, you'll be guided to areas where events are taking place.
00:36There'll be NPCs gathering, building, fighting, and you as a player can jump into the action and guide it forward
00:42or push it in different directions to see what happens.
00:45These events are happening all the time, all over NORAD.
00:48You'll see that NPCs have their own lives, even when players aren't around, and they each act according to the
00:52roles assigned to them.
00:53So, warriors behave differently from scouts or from priestesses.
00:58The scrying stone is a prop that my character can place in the world.
01:01When a priestess senses its presence, she uses it to scry just like the one that had been placed in
01:06the level by an artist or designer.
01:09When my character equips a special axe, you can see the NPCs start to follow me because it's been imbued
01:14with that behavior.
01:17When I equip the staff of the Thex Queen, the NPCs bow before me because the staff radiates authority.
01:23Items can be given to NPCs as well.
01:25When the high priestess is given the Thex Queen staff, other NPCs bow before her, just as they did to
01:31my character.
01:32So, your gateway to content in EverQuest Next is your copy of the magical tome, Rosong.
01:37It's a living bestiary, an atlas, a quest journal that guides you through the world to places where interesting events
01:43are happening.
01:44It's a living record of your travels in EverQuest Next.
01:47So, as you play, Rosong remembers your journeys, the choices you make along the way.
01:51It guides you. It serves as your constant companion through these journeys.
01:54Really, story's the backbone of everything that we're doing in EverQuest Next.
01:59So, we take this world that's full of these races, these kingdoms, these organizations, and weave stories around them.
02:06We use lore as the backbone that drives these stories forward.
02:10What you're going to see is a design tool that we use to test these stories and test this system
02:18made of drives and NPC groups,
02:20but also to simulate how players could affect the world by their choices.
02:26So, it's a very high-level AI demo that is just used internally.
02:32You will never see this in the game, and you have to understand that it runs at a much faster
02:38pace
02:38than what you will actually experience as a player.
02:41Yeah, because these events will play out over days, weeks, perhaps even longer.
02:46So, we want to be able to test it by compressing time.
02:48In this first scenario, a band of kobolds is moving into the Serpent Spine Mountains.
02:53The red color indicates that the kobolds have influence over an area.
02:57Players exploring this region will be fighting kobolds or escaping ambushes.
03:01The kobolds seek to control wealth by plundering the area's riches.
03:04As we run the simulation, we see that kobolds autonomously change the world around them, building outposts and acquiring wealth.
03:11In this second scenario, the Dark Elves need help building a mountain stronghold.
03:15NPC groups will seek out players to assist them in effecting change in the world.
03:19Their first goal is to take control of nearby resources, such as wealth and raw materials.
03:24When this goal is achieved, the Dark Elves ask for help gaining rid of the kobolds.
03:28This shows how the drives of NPC groups evolve over time, which opens up new missions and objectives for players.
03:35Each scenario that we show you is to show a different aspect of this.
03:39In the first one, we saw autonomous behaviors.
03:42In the second one, we saw how drives could generate player content.
03:46And in the third one, we show how conflicting drives can create conflict between players.
03:54In the third scenario, the Dark Elves are after the nature essence of Dryads in nearby Kythicore Forest.
03:59Players choose a side in this conflict, gaining favor with either the Dryads or the Dark Elves,
04:03which opens up additional content options.
04:06Rosong remembers the actions you've taken and organizations you've chosen to help.
04:10The book will suggest places for you to go that match your faction standing or play style.
04:14If players sided with the Dark Elves, evil spirits awaken and begin to ravage the land.
04:19In EQ Next, your choices have consequences.
04:23Player actions can trigger rallying calls, which are gigantic, world-changing events.
04:26The bloody Kythicore rallying call brings players together from across the server and will leave Kythicore permanently changed.
04:33Players on other servers might have made different choices and could see dramatically different consequences.
04:38North is a world that's brimming with stories, so there's things going on all over the place.
04:42So while the Dark Elves were engaged in this battle in Kythicore,
04:48lizardmen have discovered a temple to a faceless god in the Fira.
04:51The gnolls of Black Burr are massing for a war against Halas.
04:55A shrine brimming with the energy of the Norai is being threatened in Jagged Pine.
04:59Troll clans are causing havoc in the swamps of Gukta.
05:01And there are tons of other mysteries opening up all over the world for players to explore.
05:05And we've only shown you five types of resources, dramatic resources, that the NPC groups can care about.
05:14But there are many more.
05:15And just imagine, we talked a little bit about religion and there is a resource associated with this.
05:21And there are many more, many more stories that we can tell.
05:25So North is a world that's full of stories.
05:27And it's going to be your characters who determine how these stories unfold.
05:30And that's the contents of the Request Next.
05:35Thanks a lot for watching.
05:37For our full presentation with even more detail on the contents of Request Next, click here.
