You don't launch a finished product with beta data, you wipe and launch clean. Beta data in this case being in game characters.

At best they have a poor programming ethic, at worst they're money grubbing bastards.

Originally posted by someforumguy

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Is there any proof that sandboxes are popular at all?

 

The only proof of sandboxes being popular is that every new game gets some people on mmorpg.com begging for it to become a sandbox, and the same people scoffing any game thats not a sandbox... 

 

But how popular are Sandboxes?  just wondering if someone ever somewhere did a decent poll about this?

You wrote sandboxes, not sandbox MMO's. The freedom of choice, even if it is just the option to ignore the main lineair quest (Skyrim) is quite popular. 

- Minecraft sold millions. This game on its own should say enough. It is not a MMO, but it is played on servers. Servers with loads of different themes (not all based on vanilla and/or pvp). Techbased (heavily modded to have machines and very smart automation), creative based (mainly building), adventure based (heavily modded), pvp based (hunger games), or any combination of that.  You cant' get more freedom in a game then with this one. You as player determine what features you want to have. As server admin you determine the rules and features. 

- Skyrim sold millions Can debate if this is a sandbox, but the game offers a lot of freedom for a rpg.

- The Sims franchise sold millions.

Anyway, sandbox MMO's have not been popular. One possible reason for this could be that the sandbox genre isn't popular enough. Another possible reason is that the sandbox MMO's untill now simply weren't good enough (which is my opinion).

I think that a good sandbox MMO is just very difficult to create. What doesn't help is that a lot of players assume that sandbox MMO = FFA PVP. FFA PVP is just another possible feature. It is not mandatory because I think that there are no specific requirements for a sandbox game.

Skyrim - no one around to kick over your sand castles

Sims - no one around to kick over your sand castles

Minecraft - choosing the right server minimizes the chances of someone kicking over your sand castles, or just play single player.

Sandbox MMO - not a matter of if, but when someone(s) will kick over your sand castle (probably right after you start building it is the most likely answer)

There is no one right answer here, it very much dependent on the person playing.

For me the answer is yes. I feel the need to deliberate and optimize every choice so dropping me into a game where there is no clear choice my brain eventually just shuts down and I can't chose anything and stop playing.

But that's just me, some people thrive in a free environment and love sandbox style games.

Originally posted by TheHavok
Only if its on your forehead.

Make sure it's quite large too, I want to be able to identify your "enthusiasm" from a safe distance. 

Originally posted by Mtibbs1989

Originally posted by clumsytoes44
I've played AoC also, and like you say the sex appeal isn't gonna hold a player for long.

 Of course not, which is what I'm trying to figure out how "the most anticipated game of 2013" is going to hold onto their customers with sex appeal alone.

While they do claim it's "the most anticipated" they don't say who is anticipating it, that's the key. If they's have said  "the most anticipated game of 2013 by mmo gamers around the world" then you'd have a point.

Originally posted by kabitoshin

Originally posted by Siris23

From what I remember from wow 40 mans:

1) clear trash

2) ready check for boss - failed because 5-10 people are afk (bio, smoking, eating, etc.)

3) 5 minutes later... ready check again - failed because 2-3 people afked while waiting for the original 5-10 to get back

4) 2-3 minutes later... are we ready now? nope tank DCed

5) 5 minutes later... OK, tanks back lets pu..  wait heal's gotta put the kid to bed.

6) 10 minutes later... Now everybody's here right? Pulling...

7) Bob the DPS ninja afked, eating that important to not eat boss ability. It's a wipe, return to step 2.

 

 

Yeah, I'm not going back to 40 mans. 

Never really had that problem, the only one we had when our guild first formed was people not showing up. But after that first rough month we had a solid guild, we got to AQ 40 quick. Didn't get to do naxx 40 because of BC hit by the time we was working on princess huhu.

Our guild only had 20ish core raiders that made it every week and then a pool of about 40-50 guildies that made up the rest so we never had the same group of 40 week to week. AQ20 and ZG always went smooth though :)

From what I remember from wow 40 mans:

1) clear trash

2) ready check for boss - failed because 5-10 people are afk (bio, smoking, eating, etc.)

3) 5 minutes later... ready check again - failed because 2-3 people afked while waiting for the original 5-10 to get back

4) 2-3 minutes later... are we ready now? nope tank DCed

5) 5 minutes later... OK, tanks back lets pu..  wait heal's gotta put the kid to bed.

6) 10 minutes later... Now everybody's here right? Pulling...

7) Bob the DPS ninja afked, eating that important to not eat boss ability. It's a wipe, return to step 2.

Yeah, I'm not going back to 40 mans. 

Originally posted by Razeekster

Originally posted by nathanknaack

I love it when official and reviewer screenshots include chat messages like "this game sucks." :)

Where is this coming from? There is no picture of that in this review o- o

Last pic in the article "this games sucks, but I'm still here typing in chat :P"

Guessing from the :P it wasn't a serious comment though.

Originally posted by Voiidiin
Level 9 Ele. but i spent almost all my time unlocking all weapon skills so i was basically grinding mobs the whole time not really doing events or hearts.

That's why I started my Engie first, created my Ele but I just couldn't face grinding all those weapon skills so I left her parked in the starting instance.

...how far did you get?

Level 11 engineer after 7 hours here.

Originally posted by Pretender00

Replacing  my old HD4770 card for a new one for launch.

I have between $150 and $200US to spend.

Can anyone tell me if they think that the GTX 550ti 2GB would be better than a HD6870 1GB?

 

I know the HD6870 is a better card but would the extra 1GB of memory be worth it in getting the 550ti?

 

Or I might go with a HD6950 2GB for 199$ but would looking for value to my money.

 

 

 the HD6950 is going to be the best performance (by a pretty good margin) of the 3, though in that price range you've also got the GTX 560 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500229

I'd still say the HD6950 is going to be the better performer though. 

Edit: I personally am using a 6950 now and it easily handles GW2 @1080 with everything turned up (didn't do much WvW though). I'm upgrading to a GTX670 so I can turn on Tess. in TSW, the 6950 just can't handle that :)  

Originally posted by Konfess

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Arkain

Thank you for the info, very helpful. 

Another thing I might add, and I'm sort of on the fence about how to interpret it, is that when I panned my camera around, it was pretty smooth but on occasion the game with freeze up for a nano second as if it needed to load something.

Additionally, there were a few times when I panned the camera around where I felt the computer that the game was running on wasn't quite up to snuff. Not sure how to describe it but its' as if the scene "shook" with the rendering.

The camera was smooth but the passing scene was a bit "jagged" as if the computer couldn't quite render the scene smoothly.

 

I dont know the specification of the Rig the gameplay was tested on, but I expect it to be high end.  This does not bode well for for what I consider middle of the road or even low end, say a Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit, Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E4600  @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), 2048MB RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 440 (1760 MB).

If the game "occasionly will freeze up", on what I expect to be near perfect conditions (network and machine both high end).  My past experience is that at this poingt in development, all optimization has been done.  That is to say, little has been done to an out of the box game engine.  Maybe it wasn't optimal conditions.  Also understand, TSW is in my top 3 games I am looking forward to playing and I am not a hatter.  But I am worried.  BTW, Heavy lean toward Templar, with a urge for Dragon.

 More than likely the network is not near perfect. The backend server infrastructure is probably in their data center and not at PAX. 

Originally posted by Starpower

I have never been able to relate to a single character I have ever played in a game

 

The way my brain automatically process playing a character is like having control over an "actor" in an openended movie. He may make the same moral choices I would make he may not. However he is not me and I do not see him as my alter ego

 I think director/actor is about the best analogy for how I play rpgs as well. I tell my character what to do, but I am not my character.

 
Obi-Wan: Middle School: You will never find a more wretched hi..

Luke: What about MMORPG.com?

Obi-Wan: Oh, right.

Obi-Wan: Middle School and MMORPG.com: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.

Originally posted by nilden

http://www.darkdaysarecoming.com/world/locations/lighthouse/

Polaris, Accursed Woods, Innsmouth Academy, Atlantic Island Park, Overlook motel, Chapel of the Prince, Crash site, London, New York, Seoul, Scroched Desert.

12 areas including blue mountian preview, 3 of which are home cities.

Anyone able to comment on zone size? Are some of those just instanced dungeons or full out anyone can explore areas?

How much of a world is this game? Is it 3 city hubs with flights to instance dungeons?

RED - Some of the new england zone

BLUE - Home cities, with London being the main hub

GREEN - Egypt, what little we've seen so far

PURPLE - Transilvania, which we know almost nothing about

Additionally there is the PvP Warzone

Each of the main zones, New England, Egypt and Transilvania, are suppose to be several times the size of the largest AoC zone. 

Originally posted by Roybe

I want Zombie Zebras...a very underserved demographic!

 

OMG!!! CAN HAZ ZEBRA ZOMBIES NAO PLZ!!!

On a more serious note, even if it was just a single zebra zombie it would be awesome.

Make him a raid level boss that randomly tears through leveling zones, terrorizing poor newbs. And call him Zed. Zebra Zombie Zed.

Edit: Thread NOT done, I guess.

Well, the game has zombies so...

...there, I guess.

Thread done?

You might try Global Agenda, it wasn't very MMOish when I played but it been awhile since then.

Plus it's f2p so no cost to try it out.