I think shineys are something that are specific to EQ2. Being that they are drawing heavily off EQ1 and VG I would doubt it....at least I have heard no mention.
That being said, I love shineys too - would love to see them in Terminus! Or perhaps something similar yet unique to Pantheon. Rather see that than the cosmetic pets that are planned =/
~MINX
Since housing won't make it in until after launch, my guess is this type of feature, if intended, won't see the light of day until then either. Many of the rewards from the collectables in EQ2 were housing related. Doesn't mean they would have to be in Pantheon, but it would be an easy transition.
I agree about the desirability of the system, though. It was definitely an alternate way to spend time and to move money in the economy. As a completionist it would frequently dictate where I wanted to play in my solo time, and would give me something to do to fill gaps in play sessions.
An idea for this, just off the top of my head mind you.
in the future prehaps merge the idea of shinys with the perseption system to give small lore hints about the zone you are in (and housing when it comes in ofc). stories or somthing like that, i would love to prehaps see a system for lore hounds that felt a bit more like the WoW archiology system (without the massive negatives to that system, i liked it though) .
i know this wont give the same feel as the eq2 system as that nice early bit of loot was fun to get but i don't think anyone wants loot handed out like that from the sound of it.
edit
a bit more clarity to this idea, when i played wow i was one of the few people who liked that system. i adored getting any little bit of lore i could squease out of the game and even the fluff text on a mummied troll hand was somthing i loved.
I like the idea of getting collectibles like that, but I would like them to be a little more than just clicking a question mark on the ground. It would be cooler if you entered a grove where a lot of butterflies are, and you could collect them. Then you could collect butterflies from other areas of Terminus. Eventually you could get a complete collection. Stuff like that.
Certainly - the mechanic of picking them up is not important, and I like the idea of it being an extension of the perception system. The draw for me is having a non-combat related activity that appeals to collectors and completionists. There's probably a thousand different ways you could do that.
Everquest 1 has shinys. I personally have a love/hate relationship with them. Collections are awesome, especially when rewards are associated with completion of them, but EQ screwed up and started making collections that could only be purchased with micro-transactions. BAD CALL! Collections that are tradeable help stimulate the player economy and are a nice distraction for people to hunt for when there is down-time on their toon. Even in hardcore raiding guilds in EQ, me and my guildmates would hunt for them every chance we could get. The sense of accomplishment and gratification from completing a collection is wonderful and can really break up monotany if you're LFG or hunting for tradeskill stuff. Would be nice if there was a seperate inventory for collections though so that a toon wouldn't have all their bags filled with incomplete collections and taking up almost all their usable inventory.
I loved collectibles. Loved them in EQ2, loved them in other games that had them. Gods yes let's have collectibles!
Rewards can be cosmetic, housing when housing is in, experience (not enough to unbalance anything), game money etc.
No, no NO to microtransactions!
Someone started a thread today on the benefits of encouraging *some* solo play. Hmmm that was me, when you get older your memory goes <. Collecting shinies is a great solo activity that does not compete with grouping. As is harvesting and crafting (there may be benefits to grouping for these as in Vanguard but it is inconceivable they will not also be doable solo).
I loved the shinys in EQ2. Playing other games in the realm of MMO fantasy settings and not having shinys left an empty feeling while wandering about.
I truely hope they do something like this. Even to a much smaller degree.
EQ2, now and the iterations of the shiny game are absolutly out of hand. Shiny collections rewards should be something COMPLETELY optional. A silly little side reward, not a requirement.
I loved collecting shinies in both EQ2 and Rift. In fact, I was obsessive about it and considered myself a completionist when it came to such things. I would love to see this incorporated into the Perception system (as others have stated) - I wouldn't even care if they granted rewards or not. I just like having some other alternative way to spend my time playing or something that may give me pause as I am runnning through a zone.
Very important to have collection game play in this group centered game. If done correctly, this could be a path to solo game play for when someone just needs some private downtime and wants to explore and collect things. Rift is definitely the blue print IMO, they took EQ2's collection system and improved it greatly. Some of the rewards, just random fun stuff, for some of the collections were awesome. In my mind though, crafting, harvesting, collecting are all in-depth solo activites and needed breaks for a game that generally demands grouping to advance.
I enjoyed the shiny collections from EQ2 as well. As Liav pointed out awhile back, I think it would be cool if they were tied into the perception system. I also like Kelenin's suggestion of having them be more than just a shiny "?" on the ground. It would be cool if we could collect butterflies from certain areas ... scarabs from others ... gems from others ... skulls from others ... etc. I think EQ2 had way too many of these things to be honest. I think 1-2 sets of shinies per zone would be enough ... and beyond that, some regional/world ones that scale across all levels and atmosphere types.