Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted

  Hey everyone I just wanted to let you'll know that Horizons was bought by Virtrium and is NO LONGER owned by EI

  Who is Virtrium? Virtrium is a small company made up of the Original Dev's of Horizons and I believe some Tulga people.  They've done more in the last week for Horizons than has been done in the last year.  The New billing site is up, They reintroduced the Blight - Test Server.  A new client update is about to go into effect.  They've put up a new Ticket site to help anyone with problems and the forums are back up and running well with some familiar faces acting as moderators.  They have some nice new pricing plans, anywhere from Nine bucks a month to 14.95 a month - which is what I'm going to choose.

  Things are looking up.  Horizons has always had a special place in my heart.  The community is still top notch.  It's like coming home to family.  Everyone is helpful, nice and caring.  The crafting in the game is still the best of any mmo and of course they have Dragons.  Dragons can fly once they reach adulthood and become very large when they've become Ancient.  Build your own Dragon's Lair or House, mansion, etc.. If you're a Bi-ped.  Multiclass to your heart's content and enjoy the stunning scenery of Istaria.  Look up at the sky.  Horizons has the most beautiful sky in a mmo. 

  Sure, Horizons has it's problems but all MMO's do.  It also has alot of good things and I can't remember having this much fun in a mmo in a long time.  It's nice to feel proud of your character and your accomplishments in game once again.  Not everyone looks just like you and has the same exact leet purple gear like other games.  Here, the best items are crafted and not dropped.   Summoned weapons for some classes are top notch too. 

  Check it out.  Come home or Come join the Family that exists withing Istaria. 

Let me know when they launch a new server or wipe an existing one, and I'll come back. The fun part of Horizons is rebuilding the world, so  a new server is required.

Ah Horizons,

Yeah, it had a lot of promise back int he day. I have a weak spot for it also. The community was always this games strongest point. The Blight areas were always the best parts. I really liked how they did that. It had the potential to be a great game. Crafting was probably one of the better. Heck even I didn't mind crafting in Horizons and I HATE crafting. Dragons are cool, no doubt. Leveling on the other hand...not so much fun.

Some things that I never liked was the humaniod artwork. Armors and cloths always looked blah. Performance back when it released was horrible. I also didn't like how the devs just lost steam after a while. Rebuilding was an important aspect of the early game but they just didn't do much after those first few months (after the dryads were unlocked) Generally it was always a bit too unfinished. If you ever read the original design notes of the game you would be amazed at what they cut out. Vampires, Underwater areas and races, Orcs and goblins, the original avartars looked totally different, racial and religious factions and hatreds...

I wish them luck, maybe they can still bring some of that back to life.

I may consider dabbling with this for a while once things are more stable. I don't really want to hop on only to find they need to wipe the servers or some such, or start out on a well established one only to find out a new one was to open up a day or two later.

No doubt Horizons used to be alot of fun, never liked it being browser based but it really was a good game for awhile. Had a Sslik Chaos Warrior... loved several aspects of Horizons,  was sad that it went down hill. Maybe this will be a brighter chapter of it's life.

Originally posted by Woodwind88

No doubt Horizons used to be alot of fun, never liked it being browser based but it really was a good game for awhile. Had a Sslik Chaos Warrior... loved several aspects of Horizons,  was sad that it went down hill. Maybe this will be a brighter chapter of it's life.

-Menkure

Originally posted by Menkure

 

Originally posted by Woodwind88

No doubt Horizons used to be alot of fun, never liked it being browser based but it really was a good game for awhile. Had a Sslik Chaos Warrior... loved several aspects of Horizons,  was sad that it went down hill. Maybe this will be a brighter chapter of it's life.

You do know that we have our own stand-a-lone launcher now?  We've had it for several years now.

 

-Menkure

Originally posted by ciid

 

Menkure dont take this as a personal attack but more of blunt question.Why the hell did you guys even bother trying to bring this game back?My only play time with the game was from alpha one to gold so i dont know whats realy gone on as far as the quality of the game.That said thow with more then a few AAA mmos in the works and wow rulling all what did you guys hope to accomplish by aquireing it from EI and not just let this game die.Are there realy 5-10k people out there willing to be charged and in some case overcharged to not loose the house they built or what.God ive lost track how many times has this game bean sold off 3? 4?

 

First off, I am a member of the community, and not employed by Virtrium.  I am a moderator on the official boards, but it is strictly and completely a volunteer position.  I cannot answer for Virtrium, and my post is not meant to be an official response.  I am responding though as a player.

For starters, you said you played from alpha to gold.  I can tell you first off that a LOT has changed with the game since its initial release back in December 2003.  There are mobs in the game that are higher than level 80, and there are even "epic" mobs (level 125 and over).  There originally was no Tier V content, and no Tier IV or V techs.  On release of the game in 2003, Tier III techs and cobalt armor was as high as you could go.  Now, we have Tier V techs, Mithril, Ironsilk..  We also have Tier VI resources, such as Adamantium, Thornwood, and Travertine.  There are crafters who have managed to obtain master crafting forms, allowing the construction of expert shops and buildings on plots.

That also reminds me..  we have new building structures, including buildings which gives crafting bonuses to crafters that utilize them.  There are beginner shops, which give a 25 point bonus to the skill, Journeyman shops (50+ to skill) and Expert shops (+75 to skill).  There are new silos and houses, all tiered to Tier VI, along with a multitude of other buildings and landscaping objects.

The world is drastically different from the initial release.  The world is more tiered now making it easy to find resources and mobs for your level.  The starter island has been totally redone, and the quests have been totally revamped (remember the lack of quests on release?).  There is a heck of a lot more content since Dec 2003.  The dragons have received lots of love, and have adult and ancient rites of passage now.  There are dragon lairs now, and more plots scattered around the world.  New lands have been added, included a new continent (Trandalar).  The massive amount of changes made to the game far exceed the scope of any post I could write up..  yes, there are that many!

Much of this was done after the bankruptcy of Artifact Entertainment.  The then owners, Tulga, did put a lot into the game.  It is a far different and drastically changed world from before.

Then there came EI Interactive..  I was at the time a staunch supporter of the game and the community, but everything that EI did was counterproductive towards fostering a community.  It soon became apparent that EI Interactive had no intentions to continue development, and when word of double-billing and overcharging hit..  I found myself pushing for an investigation into EI's actions.  I was banned from the boards for helping players (who were victimized by the billing "errors") get in touch with their local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.  If you look back in these forums, you can see the posts I made in regards to EIs actions after the sale.

The last year we have seen the community wither and tear itself apart.  At one point, there were no more than 70 active forum members.

It was pretty certain that Horizons would be dead.  It was rumor (albeit from "creditable" sources) that EI Interactive defaulted on payments to the original owner for the sale, as well as payments to the server hosts (Limelight).  Everyone felt that it was only a matter of time.

This is why news of Virtrium taking over has a lot of people excited.  Virtrium has brought to the community a lot of hope that the game will not only continue, but be improved upon and updated.  Personally, I never expected Horizons to be placed in the hands of a competent developer.  Shoot.. I didn't even think I'd ever be un-banned..  much less made a moderator!

Virtrium, since taking over, has managed to undo the damage that EI caused to the game.  They brought back the Blight test server.  Blight was taken offline back in December by EI (despite the vocal cries from everyone who played on the server) so that they could move players from the defunct Unity (Europe) shard over.  EI failed due to sheer incompetence, leaving both Blight and Unity offline, and they refused to address the community about it, despite constant pleas for an update.

Not only was Blight brought back online, but Virtrium has updated it with several new builds, containing a long list of bug fixes and improvements to the game.  Here are the patch notes for Delta 119, and Delta 120.  Improvements to the client are being tested which should help out with performance (new terrain occlusion code)..  Pretty darn good for such a small team in only a couple of months, don't you think?

As for why people enjoy the game..  there is something honestly special about it.  For some people, it is the community, others feel that even though it can be a grind, the crafting system in Horizons is one of the best crafting systems in any MMO.  Others see promise and potential, and with a team of developers at the helm who are passionate about the game, people see hope. 

Truth be told, ask anyone who plays and you will find a lot of interesting answers as to why people care about this game and enjoy it.  For whatever reasons, people do enjoy playing.

I have played Horizons since its release in late 2003.  I can tell you, from my experience as a player, that the game has changed drastically since the ill-fated release long ago.  If you played it only then and have not tried it now, check out the free trial..  You may be very surprised.

-Menkure