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Originally posted by HJ-Uska
Yes, we will definitely have it so that in nearly all cases you'll be able to accomplish your goals as a solo. It might be harder to some degree which we haven't identified at this point but we plan on making nearly everything scalable to handle the variations in group size and dynamics.

Of course my critters are going to kill you all before you accomplish it but that's a given.

GameMonster Uska

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Are you guys able to make creatures that can climb on walls/ceilings? UXO tried to do it but scrapped the creature later on. I would love to see players and monsters able to climb certain faces such as cliffs and walls, it would add a whole new dimension to the game and open up the world so much more. I think Warhammer online was planning on letting you climb cliffs...

Not sure at this time. Some things like the paranoid ghoulish slimemonster should be able to flow up walls but until we build it I just am not sure what all we'll be able to do.

GameMonster Uska

I'm sure you've realized, but I'd like to grind on this point a little more: Climbing walls is awesome.

Critters climbing and/or hanging from ceilings is awesome².

Climbing, if done well, could really set HJ apart from the crowd, even moreso than the spectactular art and unique game mechanics already in place.

What means of travel will there be in HJ? One of UO's most uber traits were the runes (and one of the reasons my guild played the game for 5+ years). Being able to mark your own runes and travel by using these runes actually made you travel MORE in the game instead of the opposite effect. Lately, MMORPG's tend to fancy the "monotonous taxi ride route" where players are forced to ride or fly a pre-determined route to a set number of destinations, Or; Spend hours running there. This is fun the first couple of times but terribly tedious and boring after that and a waste of game-playing time. If Simutronic truly want to raise the "fun factor" in this game, they should really consider a highly flexible and fast travel system.

Also; Will there be mounts available and if so, will we be able to use them in battle as well?

Thank you

I did a little digging and found my jaw on the floor when I discovered that Simutronics rewards those with a larger income. 

I can understand how this would lead to the weeding out of the average player/casual gamer, who may be looking for an EQ clone, but how is paying upwards of $50.00/month (for a text-based game, mind you) going to translate to a game with such stunning graphics and options like Hero's Journey?  Are we looking at $50.00/month as a baseline and added features and servers will fall somewhere in the $90-$100 range?

As much as I'm looking forward to this game, and how much I love to roleplay, I have a serious problem with someone reaching into my pocket for the very same things most other companies offer me for the same flat rate.  Each character slot costs $2.50 extra?!  This isn't Japan!  We do not like to be nickel-and-dimed to death!

Granted, the GM events are likely the reason for so much cost, but there comes a time when the preciousness of the cargo is irrelevant because the burden is too great to be lifted.

If you can strike a balance at about $20 to $25 per month - with no 'l33t' servers or features, I'll grudgingly pay it for what you are offering - but I'll be satisfied that I'm getting my money's worth.  Otherwise, I'm looking at paying through the nose for two to three accounts for my wife, my sister, and myself.  I think a reality check needs to take place if Simutronics wants to realize greater success with a larger audience.

Here's the relevant info from the FAQ, for those who don't like to research:

How much does it cost?
Each game you sign up for will be billed separately for unmetered play with no hourly rate at the following prices per month:

GemStone IV - $14.95
DragonRealms - $14.95
Alliance of Heroes - $14.95
Modus Operandi - $14.95
CyberStrike 2 (includes CyberStrike Classic) - $14.95

Premium services are available for most games at varying costs. Premium Memberships cost an additional $25.00 per month, and extra character slots cost an additional $2.50 per month.

GemStone IV and DragonRealms have Platinum Packages for $49.95 per month which include Premium, Basic, and access to a second (Platinum) version of the game.

DragonRealms: The Fallen is a no-holds-barred verson of DragonRealms, and is $5.00 in addition to the DragonRealms Basic subscription.

What the heck is included in the Platinum Package? For $50 I'd better have a personal GM...

By "a little digging" I assume you mean you looked at the pricing sheet. You obviously don't know what the concept behind the Platinum servers is, and you probably also don't know that the price for those used to be $80. The BASELINE price for the games is $15/mo. If you want to pay more for premium benefits or to play on the platinum servers, it's up to you. I don't see any reason to believe they would make the baseline subscription fee $50/mo.

Platinum services include:
A premium account for Gemstone Prime
Access to the Platinum server - A smaller, tight-knit hardcore roleplaying community with bigger death penalties, serverwide communication and quick teleportation between towns. The emphasis is on roleplaying rather than leveling.
Discounts on Simu merchandise, including in-game tickets and Simucon tickets.
And some other features I'm not aware of.

If you're really interested in understanding how/what people do with their games now, I suggest that you examine some of the feedback that people have to say on the player's corner, it's an unnoficial Gemstone website, but has a large number of users, who have a wide variety of opinions on the game.

Remember, these services are MUD's, so in some aspects, they're very different from MMO's.

Since you can't access the official forums, these come in a close second, but take everything you read with a grain of salt.

In any case, the forum is http://www.forum.gsplayers.com

Hero's Journey will have a pricing structure similar to our other games -- though they won't be exactly alike.  (Pricing may be different, for example.  Or features may differ -- in our curren games player housing is a Premium offering, but housing will likely be available to all players at the basic rate in HJ.)

However, it's safe to say that if you pay the basic rate, you'll have an amazing experience, and you'll have all the standard benefits you expect from a game subscription -- actually, more than you've come to expect.  We really don't feel that our pricing structure is about "nickel and diming" our customers (as someone stated above.)  We feel that we're offering various levels of service and allowing our customers to decide what price point THEY are comfortable with.  More choices is a good thing.

While we will be utilizing a tiered pricing structure, it's important to understand that what you see done in our text games will not necessarily be echo'd in Hero's Journey.  It's a different culture, and a different type of product.  It all has to be carefully reconsidered and researched for Hero's Journey.  I suspect you'll be seeing more surveys about this sort of thing before the game goes live.

I'm thinking that this is probably not the best place for this discussion ... Hrmm.

I have a couple questions:

1. What will the experience system be like?

Will it be hack/slash/kill, gain exp, repeat over and over (I'm sure with the add exp from completing a quest succesfully)? or will it be (My personal preference) a gradual gain based on how much you use certain skills and whether you succeed or fail at the skill?

basically that can be read as: Basically all RPG's out there experience system OR DragonRealms' experience system.

2. How will money be made by players and introduced into the game world?

Will it be (again) like DragonRealms where you basically only make money from hunting critters and picking up the gold/boxes they drop? Or will it be like other games out there where monsters will drop gold as well as the most sought after items/weapons which will then be sold off to other players and/or NPC merchants.

Personally, I like the DR system because it seemed to be harder to flood the market with money, thus raising prices of items/weapons when compared to other games (eg Guild Wars)

Yes, I'm partial to DR... hah

Bumping this thread, for obvious reasons

Can you expand on how the skill tree and ability system works?

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If you have a character with two classes are you given a skill tree from each class to choose abilities from?

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Considering you have to have a character with two classes, I'd say yes.

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Originally posted by Renian

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If you have a character with two classes are you given a skill tree from each class to choose abilities from?

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Considering you have to have a character with two classes, I'd say yes.

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Alright, let me rephrase that

In UXO (Ultima X), the abilities werent put into a skill tree, they were put into tiers and (although im not sure if i remember correctly on this) either once you gained enough levels or had enough points in that tier, you unlocked the next tier of abilities. Similar to GW and HJ, you picked from two different classes and classes like HJ, were under different categories like Fighters, Mages, Nature and Balance, and i tihnk you were allowed to pick abilties from any of the classes that fell under your category, as long as they were in that tier.

Will HJ's be similar in that you can pick skills/abilities from the other classes in your category? Will it be a classic skill tree where you are given a few basic skills and it broadens later on? Will it be a lot of unique abilties? For example with UXO you could level your abilities up. So while in other games they would claim they have 100 spells, 90 of those are just variations of 10 unique spells which have 10 different variations such as firebolt is unique, fireball is a variation, exploding fireball is a variation etc but they count them each as one spell where really theyre just an upgrade of firebolt. Whereas in UXO when you leveled an abiltity up it only ever counted as the one ability, so firebolt levels up to fireball which levels up to fireball with an explosion. This way every skill is unique and when they say they have 100 skills they actually have 100 original skills instead of a bunch of variations... if you know what I mean. It probably sounds a little confusing, as im a little tired and trying to remember exactly how UXO's system worked.

All I know is that it does 'branch off', so to speak, and that abilities are acquired through Hero Points. Not sure about this 'tier' stuff.

This is a worthy question.

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Originally posted by froichx
You guys are doing a great job and I am aniticipating the release of this game.  So keep up the good work, and on a scale of 1 to 10 you guys are an A+ in the suck factor!!!!!!!!!! good job.

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Sorry, I wasn't able to right what I was trying to say and it sounded wrong, now that I see what I wrote I don't know what the heck I was thinking, I was pretty tired at the time.  Well what ever I was going to say it doesn't matter, this game looks good......thats all that matters...

sounds like froichx isn't very smart, sorry

Will the be a lot of unqiue monsters in the game, as opposed to seeing numerous copies of the same monster with a new name and slight change in their skin hue? In most other MMORPGs youll see a Goblin Welp, then a Goblin Basher and a Goblin Cracker then a Goblin Brute etc, but they all look exactly the same. Will HJ move to remedy this with a large amount of different creatures to fight and interect with, or are you focusing on having a smaller number of creatures that are more fleshed out?