http://www.tera-online.com/content/cpe-numbers

Nicely done breakdown of the race and class choices in the CPE.

"easy mode, solo centric, anti social"

   What made the Original MMO's harder?  I really can not say they were harder, they just required a different  generation and computer timeline. 

    When I cut my teeth on computers cutting edge technology was the 75 baud acoustic coupler at the local Radio Shack and the computer accepted programming 2 ways, user input or cassette tape.  As such, not a lot of people used computers recreationally and those who did, and set up bulletin boards, were hard core as it demanded a lot of time.  That ethic translated to early gaming, not easily accessible, difficult to play, impossible to master.  Catering to that crowd was not easy and back in the day software pushed the limits of hardware, another thing separating games from the common community.  So games were not harder, they just tended to attract a certain type of person.  Because this generation cut their teeth on king of the hill, playground mentality, it's idea translated to early games.  Playing as a team was rewarded and even encouraged as player types were clear cut in their abilities and without certain classes, the chance of success exponentially decreased. (Warrior, Healer, Crowd control anyone?)

  WoW changed that, as a corporation they knew that by making the game and not maxing out processes to push hardware to a new level, they would get more people to play the game with existing hardware and that person, casual gamer, found a way to finish the game, attracted a lot more people to the gaming community.  WoW also catered to it's clients which were B-Net script kiddies, the game had to be easy on the pocket and easy on the atention span.  With that came a blurring of the class lines, more different types of characters could tank, heal or control crowds, making it easier to complete the game.

   In the end it comes down to what makes corporations the most money, the easier you make it to log in and kill moss snakes with out insulting anyone's intelligence, the more money you make for the company.

I would take it back to the beginning...  Not one class, but all classes in the game.  I will go back to all of the classes not being overlapped, skill based and all being vital to the operation of a group or raid.  Not what we have today with 3/4 classes that can heal or tank or dps.  Each character should be able to bring something unique to a group or raid.   The last thing is your play affects your environment and your playstyle affects what you get in a game.

Cleric

Heavy Armor, low defense, no egded weapons, spells are granted by a diety, alignment matters and gameplay affects alignment.

How much does a BlizzCon 2010 ticket cost?


Each BlizzCon ticket costs $150. Tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable, and Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to deny admission to anyone who violates this policy.

   I wonder if anyone is going to be left holding the goodie bag...

Sucks,

    There is not a Del Taco within 500 miles or more from where I live, can anyone share a trial key please.   Thanks in advance.

How about this?

http://www.wowwiki.com/Hero_class

http://www.wowlichking.info/page/2/

http://wow.curse.com/articles/wow-en-news/34578.aspx

Exploration is something that is dead in today's MMO scene.  To finally see an MMO that openly talks about exploring as a choice is  something exciting to me.  I am willing to put the time in to properly test the game, not just play to get a head start.  I have Beta'ed every major release since Everquest, providing positive feedback for improving gameplay.

The OP's comment about piracy is incorrect, after sitting down for over 2 hours with a developer and the associate producer, I can tell you that they are looking at piracy and how it can be implemented. 

For me,

 It was the lack of grouping... pick up groups were 0 and if you did get one it was a train wreck or lasted 10 min.  I do not want to solo in an MMORPG, but it seems that now days groups and guilds come prepackaged from other games and run with each other because it is easier. 

  The last good guild that I was part of was EQ1, because the game mechanics forced you to group and guild to get through the game.  Levels meant something  then and  were not ground out solo or able to max the level of the game in a week or 2.  I was one of the early beta testers and quit because the game to me was sterile.

You can thank WoW and its various spin offs for what you are suffering through.  In the old day you had to group to get to places and you had to have a guild to make it to the hard stuff. 

  Today groups are throw-away and guild are used for hopping if you do not get satisfaction.  Most  every game suffers from it.  Content of some of the older games has been changed also to reflect and easierr time to level and make it  to the harder content.

  Pick up groups have also died a voilent death as they get trashed in games today,  people carry that perception from game to game and the feelings just intensify. 

If I try out a new game today, I come armed with either personal friends or from a guild in a previous game, for me this has helped me survive the dry patches.

To me it was one thing, a community.

 To survive in early EQ, you needed to group, from there you needed a guild, to get anywhere fast, you needed a druid, to survive encounters you needed a good mix of players from the holy trinity (fighter, cleric, crack producer) .

  Beyond that it was a community, people lived, died, married, divorced, cryed, screamed and wept tears of joy...... over a game.   People were actually connected to each other and sometimes it was larger than life.

WoW changed that, groups and guilds became disposable, solo play was the norm and that disease spread to all the games out there today. 

To me EQ was special because the game allowed you to become part of something bigger, even if it was online.

The key to a good game is evolution...

   In the beginning there is a game that has a lot of player friendly learning zones, a lot of midgame content, and some end game content.  As the game matures not only do you get expansions to keep your player base playing the game, you revamp some of the player friendly beginning zones, moving them up to midgame or end game content. 

  The idea is to evolve your world as your player base evolves, a game with 3+ years under it's belt does not need a lot of zones for beginners or intermediate gamers, but it does still need a zone to be interactive for all players. 

  An example of this is a game that I currently play, even though you "finished" a zone and all the content, sometimes the story line takes you back to that zone now that you are stronger.  This not only makes use of the zone for more than the recommended level, it also allows for some interaction between new and veteran players. 

  In the end it is more than end game, the game has to be replayable (alts) and the content has to change to meed the needs of the audience.

They can recover,

   But only if they come clean with the industry / fan base and admit up front that it is work in progress.  And then... at least make leveling meaningful.

  I'll give you an example, I have a friend that plays WoW, he has 3 or 4 characters that he enjoys playing on a regular basis.   Then he read about some WoW emulators and made a character on one, he leveled to 80 in 3 or 4 days and could go anywhere and do anything in this world....... and he walked away from it.  I asked him why and he replied that it was not a challenge and there was no sense of ownership or attachment to the character.  Now I understand that WoW is not the model game, but it it harder to level that AoC.

  Understanding that a computer game is not "work", there still needs to be something that tells the player that they are progressing, without dumbing it down.  If AoC was not supposed to be level centric, then they should have built it like Guild Wars and not a game that gives the semblance of a MMO with true levels.  If their goal was PvP and endgame then cut out all of the other "requirements", make everyone the same level (1 or 80, no matter) and get on with the PvP, making it a gear centric game.

  I can not speak for the younger crowd, but my generation wants a challenge wether it is at work or play.  We also want that sense of community that is missing from a lor of games now, I know that it will never be as it once was (lol) but I can always hope.

   It really depends on what you want from an MMO.  To me LOTRO shines in the fact that it is like a story that is unfolding before your eyes.  The cut scenes (between events) are well thought out and give depth to the game.  The combat system and crafting system are not anything out of the ordinary, but each are enhanced by group play.

  My only thing is that at this time there are no new servers to play on and given that it is hard to find a consistent group to run with to advance your character, there is room to solo a lot of the game, but some things require a group to complete in a timely fashon.  You best bet is to game with 2-3 friends or to read the server forums and decide on a guild that you think will assist you with low level play.  All in all I think it is a 7.5 to 8.0 out of 10, it is a good game especially if you have read the books and can follow along as the story unfolds.

Paragus1,

  Please remove that last photo on your list.  To actually post phone numbers of people in that guild is 100 % wrong.

Ok,

   Still nothing firm on the $30 million for UO, just a lot of guessing, but I will find that reference.  Here is another game for the fire

The most interesting part of the entire article for me was the speculation by unnamed "industry insiders" estimating that TSO cost $25 million to develop. If that is true, then the game was over twice as expensive to develop as it's next nearest competitor. The only way I can see the game costing that much is if the expenses for marketing, making the retail packages and shipping them to distributors and chains, customer service (player relations, community relations, phones, billing and accounts, et al), Network Operations personnel, servers, bandwidth and everything else one can think of is tossed into the pot. Even then, I'm having a hard time reaching $25 million, unless the development costs for the aborted SimCity Online are tossed in, too. Then again, I don't know how many people are involved or their salaries, which is always a huge chunk of the expenses, so what do I know?  TSO = The Sims Online.

WOW [World of Warcraft] experts estimate that the company put in around $50 million over a five-year period. Most insiders say that 50 percent of development is to market. And if you don't get a good hit at launch, it's a problem."

 Taken from  http://www.gamespot.com/news/6160429.html

Warhammer online  a virtual world aimed at the powergamer set, was aborted this week. An analysis suggests that the graphics were not good enough, but also that the cost to finish, even after two years of development, was still $30 million. The financial bar seems to be rising.

Meanwhile, recognition seems to be setting in that the boom era of MMORPGs is over. Thanks MMORPGDot for these links.

http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004/06/warhammer_onlin.html

  Ultima Online approx $ 30 million.

No.....  no one is willing to put the time into an MMO that you had to in EQ1.  Today MMO's have to give instant gratification or they are panned by the majority of players.  Thank WoW for that...

Neverwinter Nights was the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) to display graphics, and ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL. In addition to being the first graphics-based MMORPG, the game also marked the first appearance of online Clans and Player versus player (pvp) combat in multiplayer RPGs.

Meridian 59 is an online computer role-playing game first published by the now defunct 3DO Company and now run by Near Death Studios. First launched online in an early form on December 15, 1995 and released commercially in September 1996 with a flat-rate monthly subscription, Meridian 59 is often credited as the first 3D graphical "massively multiplayer online game" or MMORPG.

'The Shadow of Yserbius', (1992) originally published by Sierra On-Line, was the first of three graphical MUDs for the online community. Opening to rave reviews, The Shadow of Yserbius, according to industry critics, set the standard by which all future MUDS would be judged. The game was followed by two sequels entitled The Fates of Twinion (1993) and The Ruins of Cawdor (1995). Until recently, only The Shadow of Yserbius and Fates of Twinion were playable in offline mode.

  Each says they are the "first" NwN graphics, Meridian 59 3D graphics, SoY Mud.   By date NwN was the first released.  NWN was also carried by Compuserve before it was bought out by AoL.

Honestly, it is a relief to see that they will not have official forums for War.  The time and resources are better spent elsewhere, especially time, a major sinkhole to manage and run what will be a large and diverse communities website.  So, I have to fill out a form and give them my email, it is not so much more demanding than logging in and posting.  Plus, the content of the majority of the larger "sponsored" boards are people whining about their class, nerfs and how overpowered other classes are in their game of choice. 

As for the McQuaid comment, no forums was his choice for one reason only, he saw firsthand how a rabid and unforgiving fanbase can run over a game and be one of the reasons for it's failure.