Hero's Journey

I know this is an unpopular opinion. No doubt I will be reviled for offering it. I don't blame you really, because I had high hopes and expectations for this title too.

But seriously, all the signs are there:

1. It's been in development for a loooooong time. Some have said 12 years. Too long to be taken seriously anymore.

2. Beta  time frames have been offered and retreated from, with no new ones given now.

3. It has a projected launch period that is pure fiction. There is no way on Earth this game launches this year.

4. They had a big ad campaign with lots of articles, etc., at a time when the game was nowhere near beta, but that corresponded with the sale of the Hero engine.

5. The game has gone dark in terms of updates, etc. after the sale of the Hero engine.

6. Did I mention they sold a license of a proprietary engine BEFORE they launched their own game using it?

7. They have a highly unorthodox hiring system of "employees", taking people off message boards and having them work remotely for free (or upon future promises).

8. They don't seem to be able to keep their employees, since they are always looking for new ones.

9. Most importantly, they obviously don't have the financing needed to make a game this expensive, and after a very long time no one has stepped up to provide that financing or partner with them.

10. There isn't now, nor will there ever be, enough income from a MUDD to fund a project of this magnitude, so they can't go it alone.

11. They have made very little progress from one trade show to the next in terms of the state of the "game."

12. They admittedly don't have the time or resources to update their website! If they can't manage that, how are they going to produce something as huge as an mmo?

This is Mourning all over again. This game will never launch. If it does, I will apologize profusely, but I don't ever expect to have to make good on that promise. Expect an announcement this year that the game is being shelved.

1: In dev for 12 years? Someone's pulling your leg. Earliest I ever heard of it was 3 years ago. Dragonrealms isn't even 12 years old.

2-6 have been explained. The sale of the heroengine license pushed their schedule back a good 6 months.

7: Their volunteer system works very, very well. Sort of. Anyway, works just as well as hiring people because you get people who genuinely love the game, as opposed to codeslaves that just work for a paycheck.

8: Being a GM is not a second job. People quit when real life intrudes too much, part of being a volunteer.

9-10:  HAHAHA. You have no idea what you're talking about here.

11: Again, commercialization of the heroengine pushed them back.

12: Then what the hell was that update last week?

Originally posted by Draq
12: Then what the hell was that update last week?

You call 3 doodles of concept art an update? I mean, there's nothing wrong with concept art, but if you think that's any serious indication that a game is ongoing I will post three of my drawings and you can believe I'm going to release a mmorpg.

Originally posted by Amathe

Originally posted by Draq
12: Then what the hell was that update last week?

You call 3 doodles of concept art an update? I mean, there's nothing wrong with concept art, but if you think that's any serious indication that a game is ongoing I will post three of my drawings and you can believe I'm going to release a mmorpg.

12 is the only of his replies you have a counter point to? You must not have a very strong case if your only real issue is that they're not updating the site enough. Based on your original post, it looks like you have heard most of your info from a friend's brother's cousin.

Originally posted by Amathe

I know this is an unpopular opinion. No doubt I will be reviled for offering it. I don't blame you really, because I had high hopes and expectations for this title too.

But seriously, all the signs are there:

1. It's been in development for a loooooong time. Some have said 12 years. Too long to be taken seriously anymore.

2. Beta  time frames have been offered and retreated from, with no new ones given now.

3. It has a projected launch period that is pure fiction. There is no way on Earth this game launches this year.

4. They had a big ad campaign with lots of articles, etc., at a time when the game was nowhere near beta, but that corresponded with the sale of the Hero engine.

5. The game has gone dark in terms of updates, etc. after the sale of the Hero engine.

6. Did I mention they sold a license of a proprietary engine BEFORE they launched their own game using it?

7. They have a highly unorthodox hiring system of "employees", taking people off message boards and having them work remotely for free (or upon future promises).

8. They don't seem to be able to keep their employees, since they are always looking for new ones.

9. Most importantly, they obviously don't have the financing needed to make a game this expensive, and after a very long time no one has stepped up to provide that financing or partner with them.

10. There isn't now, nor will there ever be, enough income from a MUDD to fund a project of this magnitude, so they can't go it alone.

11. They have made very little progress from one trade show to the next in terms of the state of the "game."

12. They admittedly don't have the time or resources to update their website! If they can't manage that, how are they going to produce something as huge as an mmo?

This is Mourning all over again. This game will never launch. If it does, I will apologize profusely, but I don't ever expect to have to make good on that promise. Expect an announcement this year that the game is being shelved.

1.) 12 years is inaccurate, the idea behind hero's journey (a mud company making a graphical mmo), was initially researched, and some alpha builds were made around the time of UO's reign. The project was ditched, and while the new game shares the same title, they started from scratch about 3 years ago.

2.) that is true... Bethesda is widely known for doing the same, never prevented them from creating  amazing games

3.) Same as point 2, simply restated a different way as it is obvious that beta comes before release. AS such a worthless argument.

4.) This has been explained by Simutronics. Rather than waste time advertising before they know for sure when the game will be released, they are laying off the advertising as to prevent more of the "this games never coming out!" that they currently have. Expect a marketing blitzkrieg before or during beta.

5.)again a point that is absurdly similar to the previous, maybe this ought to be a 10 point statement.

6.) how is that a negative...? It just means that there engine is so impressive that Bioware a huge video game manufacturer didn't feel they needed a final product from Simu before purchasing.

7.) Again, unorthodox not necessarily bad.

8.) go to heroeshall.com you will find that most of the GM's are still GM's there. If the game were being vaped, one of them would surely have spilled the beans by now.

9.) Contradictory to your previous statement regarding the sale of their engine, I don't know how cheap you think an engine is... but whatever your assumption it is likely very wrong

10.) another "point" that is Identical to the previous. And again is contradictory to the sale of their engine.

11.) Based on what? E3 two years ago showed some very basic charecter creation tools, and combat. last E3 showed off more in way of quests, flight animations, larger scale areas, basic hunting zones.

12.) this is the only point I feel has some truth. However they obviously have the resources, as it would only take one GM a very minimal amount of time to do a basic update. However they obviously feel that once a month is adaquate enough till they get closer to launch.

Originally posted by Archaos

Originally posted by Amathe

Originally posted by Draq
12: Then what the hell was that update last week?

You call 3 doodles of concept art an update? I mean, there's nothing wrong with concept art, but if you think that's any serious indication that a game is ongoing I will post three of my drawings and you can believe I'm going to release a mmorpg.

12 is the only of his replies you have a counter point to? You must not have a very strong case if your only real issue is that they're not updating the site enough. Based on your original post, it looks like you have heard most of your info from a friend's brother's cousin.

This is not a debate. I posted my opinion. Other people are entitled to theirs. Frankly I thought the other responses didn't warrant a rebuttal. But saying there has been an "update" was misleading to people who don't know how minimal it was.

Originally posted by Amathe

This is not a debate. I posted my opinion. Other people are entitled to theirs. Frankly I thought the other responses didn't warrant a rebuttal. But saying there has been an "update" was misleading to people who don't know how minimal it was.

This IS a debate and it became one the moment people provided counter points. Did you honestly think posting what you did, where you did, wouldn't create a debate? I honestly hope you read the information here, because you seem to have a very skewed view of the facts.

Originally posted by Archaos

Originally posted by Amathe

This is not a debate. I posted my opinion. Other people are entitled to theirs. Frankly I thought the other responses didn't warrant a rebuttal. But saying there has been an "update" was misleading to people who don't know how minimal it was.

This IS a debate and it became one the moment people provided counter points. Did you honestly think posting what you did, where you did, wouldn't create a debate? I honestly hope you read the information here, because you seem to have a very skewed view of the facts.

So you decide when and if I am in a debate? Lol.

I don't happen to share your view that just because someone disagreed with something I said imposes upon me a duty to respond. Nor does my lack of response mean my position is any less accurate. If I say 2+2 = 4 and you say "nuh uh, noob" i don't see I need to continue that dialogue, and it's still 4.