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Good idea, I did that. I'm hoping the parts arrive this week during my couple days off, and I'll have it up and running a week later when I'm back home.
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Originally posted by TalynUpdate: all the parts for the new system are ordered, except the video card which should be ordered within the next day or two. Just a matter of waiting on it all now. I'll apply for TR beta once it's up and running but it might be too late with over 20k players already applied. |
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Agreed, just look how popular the various "minimalist" UI addons for WoW are. Players "oooh" and "aaah" with Blizz's UI for a few days, then get rid of it and cram all their buttons into a small area so they have more screen to watch the game.
One comment for last week's screenie -- I hope the crosshairs have a toggle keybind. In non-combat situations, I prefer a cleaner screen, no crosshairs. |
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I'd argue that 95% of us play fantasy MMO's because 95%+ of all MMO's are fantasy. We don't have much choice in the matter. "We" being the general populace, not the 'net-savvy or MMO-savvy crowd who find every little niche game on the market.
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I heard a blurb about Fury on one of the podcasts I listen to, either Game/On or Virgin Worlds but I checked it out and *slaps his head in surprise* it's a fantasy game. Seriously, hasn't fantasy been done to death already? I've always been a HUGE ready of the fantasy fiction genre but when it comes to MMORPG's, enough is enough already.
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I'd love to (the beta signup is mocking me in my PlayNC account page) but I need to build a new system first (I'm basing the new system off TR's specs so I'll have a good idea what games over the next couple years will be looking for).
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Originally posted by emdt Actually, yes. According to the ESA and many other articles I've happened across, the average age of gamers these days is 28-35. The ESA puts them at 33 in their Top 10 Facts article. In most of my time playing various MMO's over the years, I've actually come into contact (meaning grouped with and/or in voice chat with, not reading the kiddies spamming general chat channels) with few teens, or at least those in their low teens. The 17-19 crowd most often have at least part-time jobs and can afford their own MMO payments, as well as having social lives and being a little more able to handle themselves in an online (as well as offline) social community. Parents are more likely to be willing to shell out $60 per year for an Xbox Live Gold membership for their kids than an average of $180 per year for an MMO subscription. |
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Yeah, I'm with ya in the search for "my perfect MMO." Haven't found it yet. I'm currently on my second burnout break from WoW -- I seem to be a rarity among WoW players, The Burning Crusades actually was a huge turn-off for me, and honestly, all of WoW is nothing more than a grind, they just hide it better than most games do (until you hit 60 anyway). Mind you, I'm not jumping on the "WoW is Easy Mode" bandwagon, I simply have my gripes and I'm burnt out on it.
I'm ready for a true next-gen MMORPG. Aren't we past the whole concept of "levels" yet? I don't go to work and tell people I'm a Level X Pilot. And the bulk of MMO's also fall into the category of "your gear defines you" which is where the whole "casual vs. hardcore" arguments start cropping up. Myself, I probably fall into the HUGE grey area in the middle of casual and hardcore. I play when I want, be it only for an hour or so, or if I happen to have a day completely to myself and all other Real Life issues have been taken care of, if I feel like vegging out on an MMO for 14 hours, so be it. I do the dungeons, I raid. But honestly, after the first couple times the newness wears off and soon I can sit back and read a book or pay very little attention and just spam a couple action buttons. Running the exact same instance over and over and over gets boring fast, especially when you have 19 or 39 other players doing their own thing, going afk, whatever else and next thing you know 7 hours have passed and what do I have to show for it? A headache, a sore back, and a huge repair bill (well, until I made my hunter my main character anyway lol). But suffering through the raids ad nauseum to complete whichever Tier set I'm working on is what defines me, unfortunately. If you don't have your Tier 3 and all the uber weapons and trinkets, you may as well be a level 3 nooblet in many player's minds. Sure, I like having shiny new gear that makes my character look even cooler, and hopefully be more effective, and it's possibly something to give me as the player something to work towards, I'd still rather have a more character skill-based game system where the gear is a by-product or reward, not the end-all, be-all of existence. I'm actually ok with having the dungeons and raids in a game, but I'd at least like them to require some actual skill, rather than the equivalent of getting 40 people doing synchronized line dancing. Most current raid content is choreographed; all the player group has to do is figure out what dance steps to make to match those of the mobs and bosses. Onyxia is a great example. Three phases, we all know exactly what she's going to do in each phase, we run in and she's down in 10 minutes. Now, from my reading of the fantasy genre, dragons should be uber badasses of the nth degree. I'd much rather see an Onyxia with some very dynamic AI. Sure, there'll still be a counter-strategy the players will need to know, but at least you don't know which tactic she'd use on you at any given moment, which makes each repeat battle a fresh experience. |
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I don't necessarily equate a game's publisher with it's quality. Just because SoE is publishing Vanguard for Sigil doesn't mean SoE has final uber control over every detail. In fact, I seem to recall the Sigil guys saying they have full control and final say-so, that was one of their bullet points for signing up with SoE to begin with since they have a history with SoE's practices from their EQ days. "We ran out of money and had to release early" doesn't equal "SoE said to release and they're the bosses" in my books. SoE has a bad reputation -- primarily from the SWG fiasco -- but name a publisher who doesn't get bashed by the gamers? 8 million served or not, people bash Blizzard daily. Same with EA and Microsoft. Stupid patching policies aside (I'm looking at you, Microsoft) if the quality is lacking, blame the developers not the publisher.
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Vehicles could easily be done, and make sense in terms of the war theme and all, just depends on whether it's worthwhile (size of the battlefields, distance between teleporters, etc.). Player housing could be done in a Neocron-ish way, an apartment complex or few to travel to and instance into your apartment would be simpler than a SWG-esque littering of the landscape with player houses. Whether it even makes sense to do so will depend on how much of a MMORPG that TR turns out to be -- it it's more of simply an online action RPG like Guild Wars then there's really no sense in having player housing at all. For the gear dropping comment, I agree, I'd much rather have to gather components (or money, reputation, trust, etc.) to gain new gear than having everything drop from elite alien bosses. Along those lines, I also hope this doesn't become a gear game like WoW where your gear defines you.
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I agree though, we should be beyond the old tank/heal/dps routine, same with choreographed bosses (which "bosses" aren't supposed to be the main goal in TR anyway but still...) |
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Thanks _Shadowmage, I hadn't read that before. Looking forward to TR more than ever now. One thing I'd love to see is a soundtrack composer who's part of DirectSong so we'll have the ability later to download additional sountracks for new areas, or altogether customized soundtracks such as is available for Guild Wars.
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I don't even think Huxley is making any pretensions of being an MMORPG, they seem quite happy with the MMOFPS label and that seems to be all they're shooting for, no pun intended. I'm at least... curious... about Huxley. Same with PlanetSide, I've always been curious, but never curious enough to download the trial. With the plethora of FPS games that run thousands of free dedicated servers 24/7, I'm not really sure what the point would be other than potentially more players in the battle than your typical FPS currently offers. I'll wait til it's out and see what players have to say before I shell out any cash for it though. I am, however, holding high hopes that Tabula Rasa quenches my thirst for a sci-fi MMORPG with fast action, and little or no grinding. I just hope it has some true depth to it, not just make a group, run outside, and blow shit up. Rinse, repeat. That in itself can be a grind if there's no content beyond killing mobs ad infinitum.
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I like the idea, but I do wish L2 was worth getting excited about. Cool cinematics to download aside, the actual game appears to be nothing more than a huge grind-fest that the Korean market loves, but bores the crap out of me. I'm on break from WoW because I'm sick of grinding, and WoW's grind is nothing compared to L2's.
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The thing is, MMORPG's are designed as a business model, and as such need to attract as many customers as possible. Twitch-based games (or any format that requires more skill, faster decision-making, etc. on the player's part) typically fall under the category of the more "hardcore gamer" crowd, which is vastly outnumbered by the more casual player base. Love it or hate it, WoW is the 800 lb. gorilla that devs are looking at right now. Even Conan will be more of an "experiment" for the hardcore crowd, who might love it, but in turn it might become a hardcore niche game, never attracting a huge base of players. Until devs start noticing droves of players -- especially the casual and "I never gamed before WoW but I'm looking for something 'more' now" crowd -- leaving WoW and looking for true next-gen MMORPG's I doubt we're going to see any major shift in gameplay style from game to game aside from small tweaks to the traditional gameplay we're all used to.
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My understanding is that they've kinda given Guild Wars a nod in a couple areas:
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As someone already mentioned, Huxley is an MMOFPS although having it on the 360 is way cool -- I wish TR would do the same. I'm really really hoping TR is a true MMORPG though. All the videos, etc. I've seen are just of combat and even the TR website describes it as a "massively multiplayer online action game" which isn't quite the same as "massively multiplayer roleplaying game." If TR winds up just being a persistent battle with nothing else to do, I'll be terribly disappointed. In WoW or all the other MMORPG's I've played to date, there are plenty of times I'd rather do something other than walking outside and killing mobs. I really hope TR gives us more depth (and not just "RPG depth = tweaking your character") and more choices of how to live our virtual lives in the TR universe other than killing aliens. I also did play Neocron and while it was far too niche, I did appreciate the concept and would be in heaven if someone could make a sci-fi/cyberpunk MMORPG, perhaps combining the best aspects of say, Neocron, MxO and SWG into a unique setting. As for my take on the tab vs. twitch argument... I dunno, I like both gameplay types, but I have to be in the mood for one or the other, I can't say I'd want one single type for every game all the time. I cut my teeth on the Duke Nukems, Quakes, UT's, etc. but... pure deathmatch got old a long time ago. I was a bit disappointed with Neocron's system (at least we did have to aim though) so I'm hoping TR takes that to the next level. But, as WoW has proven, it takes an easier to use system to get the most amount of players (even former non-gamers are into WoW) and without players there's nothing "massively multiplayer" about any game. I'm sure some sort of compromise could be made, or even an options setting so the player can choose and everyone can get the most enjoyment out of the game in the manner they want to enjoy it. TR is already limiting their subscriber base with their high system requirements, making it a 100% twitch-based game would further limit that to the FPS-only crowd, and with hundreds of free-to-play FPS out there, personally I shrug and thing "wtf, why bother?" when it comes to the MMOFPS genre. But, I said the same of MMORPG's years ago until I actually tried it.
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