Well, it's a bittersweet announcement.  I actually started my excitement by pledging $25 on kickstarter.  But then I continued to watch the cast and heard richard garriott say "Not focusing MMO" and then explaining the instanced gameplay.  Yes, you can see friends...but the thousands of people online will be like "snapshots" it seems.  The world still will be persistent I'm sure, but this isn't the next dream in my view.  I had to then cancel kickstarter because I really don't want to get burned on this one. 

What do you guys think?  Did any of you pledge?  If so, what are you thoughts about the instanced gameplay and "overworld" type design?

Edit:  Just want to clarify, this isn't to say I won't pick it up at launch.  But I certainly don't feel like I should pledge at this time unless it's something I can put my soul into.  This just doesn't feel right for that.

It's a very odd concept to say the least. In a way it's similar to Star Citizen, the problem is that being in space it's much easier for that game to get away with dynamic instancing. 

He mentioned that when you connect it will "download the new shop of a certain player in town", but how does that work for (potentially) millions of players? I don't know, the concept seems weird to me.

Originally posted by nottuned
Most MMO'a you solo in anyhow how would instanced play be much different other than you dont occasionally have to fight over mobs with someone. If its instanced "Group" play than it may be more of a multiplayer game than most mmo's ive played recently. Ill give it a shot I've enjoyed games he has made in the past.

exactly most MMO#s already have that, thats why MMOs are boring

Originally posted by Benedikt
i did pledge (25$) - why would i not just because it is not MMO? do you think that only mmos are worth playing?

No, I would still pick it up if it's a solid game (even if not an MMO).  However, I'm just not getting a good "Feel" from this. $25 is not a lot of money, but at the same time it's being paid a year in advance for something that may end up being a huge disappointment.  I loved all of the guy's games, but at the same time he has enough money to get this rolling without kickstarter. Another odd thing that turned me off was the whole 1 new chapter per year type of thing. It's also going to be a story driven game, that I fear may be "completeable".   Again, I'm not saying the game will be a bad game necessarily...but I actually feel it may lack the depth you might hope for in an ultima game. 

We'll see!  With his new angle on the future of gaming, I can see this being a pretty decent $9.99 game available for ios/android...but not a $59.99 deep RPG.  Know what I'm saying?

Originally posted by nottuned
Most MMO'a you solo in anyhow how would instanced play be much different other than you dont occasionally have to fight over mobs with someone. If its instanced "Group" play than it may be more of a multiplayer game than most mmo's ive played recently. Ill give it a shot I've enjoyed games he has made in the past.

Yeah, that's the problem.  The whole hope here was that this would get away from solo-driven gameplay.  For the people who didn't enjoy SWTOR, that was one of the main problems.  Not everyone like to play solo with an unrewarding chance to group.  I think there needs to be a balance somewhere in between where you can solo, but grouping and socializing is promoted in real time.  

Of course there is something to be said about "what sells", and solo gameplay is it.  But I'm not going to simply buy "what sells" if it's not a good upgrade from an industry leader back in the day.  I'd expect some innovation and building upon what was learned in the past.  To me, this seems like the wrong direction for him.  

He talks about exploration but that overland map really makes the world seem small.

Also the graphics don't look that great, I'm not asking for realistic graphics but not something that looks a bit cartoony for my taste. In the end Pathfinder Online just seems far more interesting.

Seems to me this post is not MMO related as the game is not an MMO. Therefore its probably in the wrong place as we are currently in the MMO forum...

Screw Richard Garriott, sure he made my fav game of all time, but hasn't been able to produce squat that I've enjoyed since. And this game sounds like more of the same of what we already have. Whoopee.

Traditionally this site has very vague requirements for what is and what is not an MMO. Half the people here call Diablo 3 an MMO. Fact of the matter is, we have no idea how many people will be able to populate these worlds. How the character information will be stored, etc, etc. 

Funny.  Only the people who don't want this game are up in arms about its mmo post worthyness.  There are plenty here on this site that arent mmo's

LOL .. that is the best he can do? A kickstarter?

So he can't raise a cent from investors, and now he is trying to get money from you. Count me out until he has a real game to sell. And even then, i will see whether he still has it to make a fun game.