EverQuest II Interview

EpicPlayer has conducted an interview with Sony’s Steve “Moorgard” Danuser, in which several aspects of EverQuest II are discussed. A snippet:

Q: During the fight I can use different arts to enhance the effect of my attack. Will I be able to aim my attack towards where my foe seems the most vulnerable?

A: We have talked about giving players the ability to focus attacks on a specific part of an opponent’s body, but in practice it isn’t a system that provides the kind of entertaining combat experience we’re working toward. Targeting each attack is somewhat tedious, and provides little in the way of strategy once you figure out which attacks work best on a given opponent. Plus, the converse would have to be true; if you had a great breastplate but weak leggings, the smart opponent would target your legs all the time. Likewise, if you have boots that have no cold resistance, an enemy wizard would probably nuke your feet in order to achieve greater effectiveness. In other words, this system quickly becomes overly complex and gets in the way when you’re just trying to have fun.

Our preferred solution is for certain spells and arts to target a specific part of the opponent’s body. This gives some variety to combat without constantly requiring the use of a rather cumbersome system.