I played late in beta and at launch. It was a lot of fun but the content never really progressed and the game kind of stagnated. The MxO radio stations, parties, and faction roleplay was a blast though. 

Originally posted by Persephassa

I played late in beta and at launch. It was a lot of fun but the content never really progressed and the game kind of stagnated. The MxO radio stations, parties, and faction roleplay was a blast though. 

This.

I have still yet to play an MMO with the social interaction and immersion that Mxo had.

PvP was different to say the least. I was never really great at pvp but thoroughly enjoyed MA duels. The old school CR1 tournaments were awesome! Chasing ppl through streets and hyperjumping over buildings in a city was cool in itself. Live events are what the game was about and when SOE came along and killed that aspect off the whole game declined imo.

Really is a shame how things turned out.

 

SOE came along and killed that aspect off the whole game declined imo.

 

Get over SWG ..

The game was only a few months old ( If that) when sony took over

With what you are saying it it was only good for a few months

Originally posted by octocon

 

SOE came along and killed that aspect off the whole game declined imo.

 

 

Get over SWG ..

The game was only a few months old ( If that) when sony took over

With what you are saying it it was only good for a few months

Never played SWG, troll!

It was great for the first few months. The live events are what made it great!

When those were canned they just killed one of the best aspects of the game and yes things did go downhill from there. Not to say it was only good for a few mths. I enjoyed it up until the 1st anniversary. Didnt play it much during the 2nd year {other games or something cant remember}. Came back for CR2.0 which was interesting for a while but they way they had changed the storyline missions etc and little incentive to actually do them the game quickly became dull and many vets left. Only the hardcore fans remained and had to endure new players logging in and saying the game sucked without giving it a chance or knowing what it was like in the beginning.

My memory is beginning to fade on the subject. Lucky I have 1000s of screenshots to remember the good times :p

I've been waiting for this to happen for 3 years. The game itself has an ok concept, but is majorly lacking in lots and LOTS of places. Visuals are less than stunning, even for a game made 4 years ago, the combat system is sometimes unresponsive and difficult to grasp at first, let alone master. Most games hook subscribers in the first 30 minutes of game play. This game did not do that. For me, anyway. All in all, it was not for the general populace. It took a special breed of person to play that game for that long. I personally did not enjoy it, but it seems that there were people who did. 

The population has been down really low since a few months in. I thought they would have shut it down sooner. Now. THe question is: WHICH IS NEXT?!?!?!??!/!/1/1?!?!/11?!?!?1

Saga of heroes or SWG?

I say saga.

Looks pretty, but doesn't have as rabbid a fanbase as SWG.

Sorry.

Time to usher in sony's new line of well produced MMO's (I hope) like free-realms (best FTP I've played) and the agency (I hope this one is good).

So long Matrix.  Maybe Neo can rebuild a better version this time.

When will god damn MMO companys start allowing communities to host free servers when they "perma" shut down their games...

Originally posted by Bodeus

I never thought it would happen. I bet this will worry the Vanguards folks. Its seems SOE WILL cloase down games that do not do well. So much for permenant life support.

Same goes for Planetside which they abandoned supporting about 3 months ago, this has caused a large drop in the remaining player base. Clocks ticking there too.

SOE seem to be losing the plot accross the board at the moment.

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Inktomi

I'll do your monkey job, where can I apply?

I'm being dead serious.

Why did this game fail and how come SOE just does this without any recourse for the community?

 

 

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by recourse for the community. The game wasn't earning money it was discontinued. What kind of recourse could there be?

Why can't they at least give a warning and try to rally. No, all they did was charge the same amount of money for the product that obviously didn't warrant it. If it was so bad why can't they make it free?

Originally posted by Inktomi

Why did this game fail and how come SOE just does this without any recourse for the community?

 

Well, as a beta MxOer, I'd have to sadly say that MxO failed because, just when the MMO world was getting accustomed to accessible, well-balanced, thoroughly-tested games, Monolith had set its course on making a hardcore-style grind game, and ran out of time and money before being forced to release with bugs galore and no semblance of balance.  It did feature a nicely stylized clothing system and plenty of emotes, which drew the mmo-roleplayers.

It probably didn't help that the Matrix franchise's popularity was sagging badly due to the poor reception of the latter two films.

As such MxO sold very badly and from reports at the time managed less than 60k subscribers at its peak.

The 'live' plot, acted out by Monolith employees playing key roles, was the one shining gem in an otherwise sordid tale of MMO development.  When Monolith ran out of money from the initial pre-orders and box sales to keep people paid, though, practicality took over.

I really don't think there's much of a community left to need recourse, but for those few fanatics still there here's a salute (/bigtrouble) and take the yellow pill ... there is No Exit.  (end obscure reference to tiny Machine faction which probably nobody will remember).

Originally posted by Inktomi

 

Why can't they at least give a warning and try to rally. No, all they did was charge the same amount of money for the product that obviously didn't warrant it. If it was so bad why can't they make it free?

'Cause bandwidth, support staff, and servers aren't.

Originally posted by No.6

Originally posted by Inktomi

Why did this game fail and how come SOE just does this without any recourse for the community?

 

 

Well, as a beta MxOer, I'd have to sadly say that MxO failed because, just when the MMO world was getting accustomed to accessible, well-balanced, thoroughly-tested games, Monolith had set its course on making a hardcore-style grind game, and ran out of time and money before being forced to release with bugs galore and no semblance of balance.  It did feature a nicely stylized clothing system and plenty of emotes, which drew the mmo-roleplayers.

It probably didn't help that the Matrix franchise's popularity was sagging badly due to the poor reception of the latter two films.

As such MxO sold very badly and from reports at the time managed less than 60k subscribers at its peak.

The 'live' plot, acted out by Monolith employees playing key roles, was the one shining gem in an otherwise sordid tale of MMO development.  When Monolith ran out of money from the initial pre-orders and box sales to keep people paid, though, practicality took over.

I really don't think there's much of a community left to need recourse, but for those few fanatics still there here's a salute (/bigtrouble) and take the yellow pill ... there is No Exit.  (end obscure reference to tiny Machine faction which probably nobody will remember).

 

Hmmm,

    No. 6 you are right, it's over when it's over.  I guess that MxO was a classic case of good idea + bad execution? However one thing that other studios should take from this is the live content aspect of the game as you mentioned. That's comparable to having a Dungeon Master in D & D, expect the unexpected. Thanks for stepping up and answering my question seriously and honestly.

~Ink

Aw, it's sad to see a game close.  I hope that they don't lay off the hard workers.
I played the game a little, but wasn't a huge fan.  I feel badly for the loyal fans though.  Thankfully, there are many options to choose from these days in casual gaming.

I still havent got to experience this game.

And another one bites the dust. Just shows that a MMO is much more than just the IP.

I feel sad though as I am a huge Matrix fan.

Originally posted by ilydamdris

Originally posted by Spiider

 If you want to screw up a good concept just get SOE on the job. They are Uwe Boll of gaming industry. MO and SWG... I could have played both for decades based on lore only. And they managed to make them discuisting.

 

 

From all the drama I've seen. The horrible press and such, I think Aventurine holds the esteemed honor of being the "Uwe Boll of gaming". XD

Well, yes and no...

Av is a "first time offender" as they've only one game.

SOE, like Uwe Boll, is a repeat offender whose actions, or in-actions, have affected several titles.

Originally posted by EricDanie

And another one bites the dust. Just shows that a MMO is much more than just the IP.

I feel sad though as I am a huge Matrix fan.

What I do not understand is that an IP based on being "Inside a virtual world" has yet to produce a title that is worth its rain of salt!

Originally posted by Aguitha

Game had potential, but devs weren't interested in making it a success.   Sad to see WB give huge franchise name to company that obviously have no interest in making the game a success.

hope your not referring to SOE becasue if it wasnt for them this game would have closed down several years ago.

"Originally posted by Spiider

If you want to screw up a good concept just get SOE on the job. They are Uwe Boll of gaming industry. MO and SWG... I could have played both for decades based on lore only. And they managed to make them discuisting."

Uh, the game was horrible before SOE was ever involved, so get off your high horse, it if wasnt for them the game would have been long gone.

Originally posted by Inktomi

Hmmm,

    No. 6 you are right, it's over when it's over.  I guess that MxO was a classic case of good idea + bad execution? However one thing that other studios should take from this is the live content aspect of the game as you mentioned. That's comparable to having a Dungeon Master in D & D, expect the unexpected. Thanks for stepping up and answering my question seriously and honestly.

~Ink

I would say 'great' idea(s):

- Continuity of plot from the end of the movies
- 'We-go' competitive combat system complete with complex animations, as opposed to the 'I-go, you-go' back-and-forth whacking of standard PnP and MMO games
- Dynamic re-pluggable skill tree system justified by the Matrix mythos

combined with some traditional MMO ideas that really didn't work in conjunction with the above:
- Class 'roles' (nuker, tank, healer) clashed with the dynamic trees, causing min/maxers to find unbalanced combinations and pooching PvP
- Clothing system, while diverse, came with MMO-typical stat or talent buffs, which makes no sense in the mythos and conflicted with the skill-centric play system
 

and lastly inexperience in the MMO arena and all-too-typical scope creep, project underestimation, and time/money constraints led to:
- Game-killing bugs in critical areas of combat, movement (e.g., being stuck in elevators), and server stability
- Imbalance between character tree choices both in PvE and PvP - being able to select a very large number of build permutations through the tree led to an impossible task of balancing them in the allotted time
- Incomplete development of game content outside of the GM-run events led to a gameplay experience that was wildly fun for an hour or four a week and mindnumbingly dull the rest of the time.  The newbie missions and those associated with plot points were well-crafted and everything else was, essentially, kill 10 rats repeated a nearly infinite number of times, with slightly different textures to look at every few levels.

Monolith worked like dogs to deliver but MMO development is a different project entirely than a normal game or IT project. 

Lastly, all, leave SOE out of this one.  They didn't reinvent MxO as it clearly needed but they didn't create the initial fubar and (unlike some of their other games' overhauls) they didn't do any harm to MxO.