I imagine that Roper is off to their Forgotten Realms project.

Well, it's possible that both NWN and Cthulhu will get a turn.  People talk about a 3rd project, but in Atari's Feburary 2010 report to their public shareholders, they have continued to state that Cryptic will be completing new MMOs (plural) on a 18-24 month cycle.  I check the Cryptic corporate site frequently, we have this phrase:

 "Cryptic Studios is initiating development on several new projects. " (source)

Or the phrasing of this job opening, posted in the last two months:

"Cryptic Studios is seeking a full-time User Interface Designer. This position is responsible for working with designers, programmers and artists to help create user interface designs for our games."

Guys, I think we should take them seriously when they say "several."  I think that STO is a moderate success, and we will be seeing Cryptic for a while.   I would consider CO to be a bare minimum release in terms of polish and content, and (no offense to STO fans) I feel that as a beta tester for both games that STO was significantly more rushed than CO.  Hopefully Cryptic raises the bar for themselves and does some damage control on their reputation.

Originally posted by parrotpholk

Originally posted by Dragon71UK

Originally posted by Bureyku

So Bill Roper is going on to destroy another project, and Cryptic is likely to be working on another new MMORPG to churn through their mill.  I wonder what IP they will destroy this time.  Maybe Thundercats? 

I also wonder how long until they blame Champions deteriorating subs on 'Poz' and fire him. 

 

The internet chatter on their next mmo is NWN online.

That would be a shame to curse something as good as NWN and damn it to cryptic hell.

QFT..... NwN and NwN2 Persistent Worlds, created by modders, will likely STILL be better than anything these guys do.

Originally posted by championsFan

Originally posted by junzo316

Seeing as the Adventure packs aren't listed under new missions, wonder if these will pop up in the Cryptic Store.  Especially since Revelations didn't end up there because of subscriber back-lash.

I see what you are getting at, but they have said several times that all the adventure packs will be free, using the exact wording "adventure packs."  Here is an example.
 

Here is some new important info: Champions Online is now only $10 / month with a recurring 3 month subscription, at least for those who act on this special offer.

 

I have to wonder if Cryptic truly grasps how much many gamers literally hate paying a subscription, but not getting the full game for their money. 

If they start listening to that feedback, I wonder if they'd get more subscribers. 

This game has had issues with bugs, lack of content and the cash shop.  That's a pretty damn shaky start imo.  Some games simply don't recover from that.  I hope this one does, but Cryptic really needs to get rid of the subscription plus RMT money pit model.

Originally posted by championsFan

Well, it's possible that both NWN and Cthulhu will get a turn.  People talk about a 3rd project, but in Atari's Feburary 2010 report to their public shareholders, they have continued to state that Cryptic will be completing new MMOs (plural) on a 18-24 month cycle.  I check the Cryptic corporate site frequently, we have this phrase:

 "Cryptic Studios is initiating development on several new projects. " (source)

Or the phrasing of this job opening, posted in the last two months:

"Cryptic Studios is seeking a full-time User Interface Designer. This position is responsible for working with designers, programmers and artists to help create user interface designs for our games."

Guys, I think we should take them seriously when they say "several."  I think that STO is a moderate success, and we will be seeing Cryptic for a while.   I would consider CO to be a bare minimum release in terms of polish and content, and (no offense to STO fans) I feel that as a beta tester for both games that STO was significantly more rushed than CO.  Hopefully Cryptic raises the bar for themselves and does some damage control on their reputation.

STO can't maintain it though, takes less than 2 weeks at 4 hours a day to get to rear admiral on federation (and that's a lot of grinding... as the actual number of proper quests for an "MMO" is laughable). The fact Klingons are half done and they're still talking about new factions (via the C-store) doesn't fill me with much promise.

Cryptic should never have tried 2 MMO's at once... it was idiotic, in every sense. They still haven't figured out that most gamers play 2 MMO's nowadays... and a double sub package may actually help CO before it dies a death.

CO WILL die it's at a price Auto Assault was at retail before that went to the land of dead mmo's... hell i saw more content in Tabula Rasa than both CO and STO put together :-p and that failed. (well shut down.. i miss TR still popular in europe and it was beginning to work)

Cryptic can't possibly work on a 3rd MMO can they... it would defy madness...even the big guns Activision, EA wouldn't be that crazy...

If they are about to start work on a NWN MMO, I just hope they realise that such a game will not work with the cell shading look of graphics (ie. CO). I don't think when anyone thinks about NWN they have cell shade type of graphics in mind.

I don't think for a second they demoted him, that would be a slap in the face even though Roper is controversial. Wonder if he was put on the mysterious third project?

So help me <insert diety>. If the NWN MMORPG bombs, I will cry a river of tears and drown in it.

Neverwinter Nights was one of the BEST RPGs ever made. In fact, I've played it at least 6 times from start to finish. The community is just amazing, the game is just amazing, everything about it is amazing!

Some things should never be MMORPGs. NWN is one of them.

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

Given the lessons learned from the NGE, is it reasonable to expect a new dir to turn things around for a game post-launch? I mean now that the game is live, there is only so much change you can bring before you reach tipping point of driving everyone away.

Originally posted by ArcAngel3  

I have to wonder if Cryptic truly grasps how much many gamers literally hate paying a subscription, but not getting the full game for their money. 

If they start listening to that feedback, I wonder if they'd get more subscribers.

This game has had issues with bugs, lack of content and the cash shop.  That's a pretty damn shaky start imo.  Some games simply don't recover from that.  I hope this one does, but Cryptic really needs to get rid of the subscription plus RMT money pit model.

I don't see any chance of the cash shop going away completely, so the best we can hope for is that they will not extort the players too badly with the RMTs.   So far this has been the case, at least in CO the store has not escalated beyond the initial offering, the only additions are costume pieces.   Of course, some players are rightfully impatient in between updates when the C store is getting new costume sets, but they have regularly added free pieces with all the big updates, like this latest expansion with ~90 new pieces included with the base subscription.
 

I think they are just waiting until more of the market eventually catches up to the sub + RMT model.   As this model grows in popularity, the big issue will not be whether a game has RMTs but the extent to which the company extorts the players (for example, XP potions are worse than costume pieces, IMO, since they are gameplay-effecting).  

Sad to hear this news.  Bill Roper is the reason I bought Champions Online and now that hes gone I'll be canceling my subscription.

Originally posted by Miles-Prower

So help me <insert diety>. If the NWN MMORPG bombs, I will cry a river of tears and drown in it.

Neverwinter Nights was one of the BEST RPGs ever made. In fact, I've played it at least 6 times from start to finish. The community is just amazing, the game is just amazing, everything about it is amazing!

Some things should never be MMORPGs. NWN is one of them.

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_%28AOL_game%29

It already was, my friend. But I see where you're coming from.

Although, never fear. There's still a lawsuit out there which could strip Cryptic/Atari of their rights to create anything involving D&D, which I hope Turbine wins.

 To this day why would anyone hire someone who was in charge of one of the biggest failure in modern western mmo history. When the name of your company becomes a verb for fail. Maybe you should not hire the guy responsible. When I see his picture I want to run far far away. Looks like Cryptic may get flagshipped. If they keep this up. CO and STO will not live to see 2011. Maybe Atari will just dump them in a fire sale. So much potential. So little results.

Originally posted by Logansan

If they are about to start work on a NWN MMO, I just hope they realise that such a game will not work with the cell shading look of graphics (ie. CO). I don't think when anyone thinks about NWN they have cell shade type of graphics in mind.

(1)  I play CO with the black comic outlines turned off.  The game is not really cell-shaded, it just has these black outlines (they are exactly like the black outlines in the emulator ZSNES, 2xSai, SuperEagle, etc).  

(2)  Check out some screenshots of STO.  Even though I didn't care for that game, as a ST fan I do quite enjoy the art designs of the ships and costumes in that game.  Also, the environmental art in the latest CO expansion is a pretty nice rendition of a New Orleans type city at night, so the artists are versatile. 
 

Honestly, I think the graphics are one of the key things they will get right with these projects. 

Whatever MMO is next I hope it is not instanced, but OPENED WORLD.

Originally posted by Erolis

 To this day why would anyone hire someone who was in charge of one of the biggest failure in modern western mmo history. When the name of your company becomes a verb for fail. Maybe you should not hire the guy responsible. When I see his picture I want to run far far away. Looks like Cryptic may get flagshipped. If they keep this up. CO and STO will not live to see 2011. Maybe Atari will just dump them in a fire sale. So much potential. So little results.

I agree, 100%. Hellgate: London failed specifically because of him and his idiotic policies. I honestly don't understand how he's gained meaningful employment after that.

Hell, nobody blames the team behind the game. Runic Games is mostly made up of those folks, and they churned out one of the most lauded and beloved releases of 2009.

But hell, Dave Allen convinced MMO gamers to give him another chance ( Alganon)  after the Horizons debacle, so I guess anything's possible.

Originally posted by describable 

STO can't maintain it though, takes less than 2 weeks at 4 hours a day to get to rear admiral on federation (and that's a lot of grinding... as the actual number of proper quests for an "MMO" is laughable). The fact Klingons are half done and they're still talking about new factions (via the C-store) doesn't fill me with much promise.

I agree.  The saving grace for CO's lack of content is the fun of making alts, we have this classless open build system, and together with the costume creator it allows more creativity and fun for making alts than any other MMO I have tried.  I have 22 alts, and 2 capped characters.  

But in STO, they put back the simple 3-class system, and since the ship class matters more than the captain's class, I see little reason to make more than one character per faction in that game, and as you say it has about 1.2 factions right now.   They either need to add incentives for alt-making (unlikely, given the way ships and bridge officers work), or remove the skill cap to allow a longer progression for that main character (ideal).

Cryptic should never have tried 2 MMO's at once... it was idiotic, in every sense. They still haven't figured out that most gamers play 2 MMO's nowadays... and a double sub package may actually help CO before it dies a death.

CO WILL die it's at a price Auto Assault was at retail before that went to the land of dead mmo's... hell i saw more content in Tabula Rasa than both CO and STO put together :-p and that failed. (well shut down.. i miss TR still popular in europe and it was beginning to work)

Cryptic can't possibly work on a 3rd MMO can they... it would defy madness...even the big guns Activision, EA wouldn't be that crazy...

Then madness will be defied! 

 

The reason that big names in the VG business can recover from flops is the same reason that it happens in the movie business:  from the publisher's point of view most all games/movies are flops, and they live for the big hits, so they conclude it is worth risking lots of money on someone who produced a hit in the past.   

It should be no surprise that Bill Roper joined Cryptic after the Atari acquisition. 

Bill Ropers Interview at Cryptic

Interviewer: So what have you been doing for the last 5 years Mr. Roper

Roper:  I was CEO of flagship studios (while he eats all the M&M's off of the interviewers desk)

Interviewer: Isn't that the company that created the absolute failure Hellgate London

Roper: Yes

Interviewer: .........

Roper: ........... (Roper lets out a slow high pitched fart in the silence)

Interviewer: Welcome aboard Bill Roper!!!!!

I don't want Cryptic or Turbine churning out another crappy D&D MMO.  Wizards of the Coast really should be looking elsewhere for real talent to do the franchise justice.

I still don't understand why IP owners aren't forthing at the bit to get Blizzard or Bioware to make these games, instead of settling for these developmentaly challenged companies.