Wow... this gives a perspective of the 'other side' that is pretty sad, IMO.  All that work and great writing gone for naught. 

I beta'ed the game and was very happy with the stories I came across in quests and just from talking with NPCs.  I thought they really brought the game to life which is something I think many games lack.

I'm really really hoping some other company buys this game from PE and finishes it making it the great game I think it could be.  If PE decides to start developing GnH again then I doubt I'd be interested just because of the way they handled shutting it down.

Thank you for writing this and I wish you well!!

I was in the beta and thought the game had a lot of potential.  Sure, it had problems and it appeared the devs just couldn't get some things worked out or maybe their fixes never had a chance to get released to us considering what must had been going on because the same bugs just kept cropping up over and over again.

Still I loved the graphics, the minion concept, deities, and some of the combat animations were very well done.  I just loved how mobs could throw you around, jump on your chest, or some other craziness.  The game overall just had great potential and I hope another company picks it up.  I think Funcom could do great things with this game, or maybe Bioware, or... well someone who can do it justice!

And yeah it absolutely sucked how PE went about doing this, but I think some of us were thinking there were problems anyway, but they could have at least given us a heads up.  Pretty sad... 

This is old news really.  He apologized a long while ago for this so I guess he's just reinterating for the perpetual haters.

At least he can admit to mistakes and seems to try to learn from them so they're not repeated.  That I can respect.

Wow...

I'm starting to think devs have the fear of Vanguard in them. 

That's a good thing though.

Seriously, wth?

I don't play WoW anymore but:

[quote]A new feature for reporting players as being AFK in battlegrounds by right clicking has been added. When enough reports are registered, a 60 second debuff will begin to count down. Once the timer is up a new debuff will appear that will prevent the player from gaining any honor while it is on. This debuff can be negated as soon as the player engages in PvP combat.[/quote]

OMG it only took them how long to do this??  Simply amazing.  On the other hand it shows they are listening but at the same time they gave us a mouth full of BS before they took any action.

Originally posted by MacScarfe

 

But i'm just nit picking,

You should have stopped there.  Plus if their choice of deities is such a thorn in your side perhaps go ask the devs or research why they decided on certain features.

The game is set in the mythical world of ancient Rome.  I doubt you actually saw centaurs, medusa, and the like in historically correct ancient Rome...

I think choosing your influencers is something that can really help a game or blow up in your face if you pick the wrong ones.  Limiting how long they get to participate is a good idea but then what if you get influencers who are really gems?  The problem I think that's surfaced, is pretty much what some others have mentioned.  Some seem to rely to heavily on certain players who belong to some of these uber guilds, so now it's almost a given that you'll see these guilds have above average access to betas and whatnot based more on name then helpful input.

I like the idea of influencers changing every year or so.  I think it gives fresh perspectives and gets away from the 'invite/listen to them not because they're speaking intelligently and offering useful input but because they're in X guild' theme.

Not saying all devs and community managers react that way but I've seen some instances where that certainly appeared to be the case.

Nice review.  Personally I find the fast pace with Bane combat kind of addictive.  I often get sidetracked from a quest because I want to fight through 'just 1 more!' wave of Bane attacks at a control point or frontline.  Needless to say 'just 1 more' often turns into an hour or so of fighting. 

As for PvP, they're working on it.  I do think the game screams for PvP, but I don't want them to add it just because.  I want them to do a well thoughtout version of PvP that fits well with the story.

You know strangely enough I like them both. hehe!

I wasn't that keen on the new TR until playing it, though, and after looking at those links I think they could take their original concept and make a successful MMO out of it as well.  I love the idea of player owned floating islands and think if they revamped the combat a bit to where it's not such an asian clone in style, then I think it'd do well.

I think RPing in MMOs like TR is a lot easier then in other MMOs that are fantasy (High, Low, Sword and Sorcery type) oriented. 

You can't break immersion by using l33t speak because of the setting.  You can curse like a sailor and it'd fit the setting.  You can be a lot of things and it'd be fine, but talking about present day issues like current politics, current religion, current sports, things like that,  would break immersion. 

So, with that in mind, I hope we see a lot of RPing in TR, or at least less immersions breaking encounters.  Probably just a pipedream though...

I think it'll be a great game.  Not great as in WoW great, but great in that it'll attract healthy subscription numbers.  I haven't been in the beta long, but so far it seems to be a cross between AO, Planetside, WoW, CoH, and maybe Auto Assault even.  In other words it's a hybrid that's delving into some really neat areas for MMOs.  The one thing I'm concerned about is the quest grinds.  Kill 200, kill 40, etc type quests.  I think it'll do alright though.  :)

My guess would be it's because they don't want to have all the freakin whining and overreacting posts wasting their bandwidth like some other games have that are in development right now. 

Originally posted by siresper

 

Originally posted by atziluth

 

Originally posted by TheChronic

we had this discusion several tmes before, I know that but:

so short before launch and so less information about the game, makes it clear that funcom has nothing good to present and make their potential customerrs look forward to, at least nothing thats as good as we have already seen in the E3 videos..

and what we have seen so far was not very impressive, we seen the same old hack and slash elements like in many other games and their revolutionary new combat system did not look good as well, I really looked forward to this game and was also willing to buy a newe computer to play it, but now more and more I begin to care less for it...

Seriously... you want to drag this dead horse out again?

 

You don't know what they are doing... no one does but them. Let the game release then start making posts about the state of the game. You are just trying to incite a flame war. Good or bad the game is scheduled to come out in 12 weeks unless Funcom delays. Not a long time really to hold comment.

 

The trouble with waiting until release to make posts about concerns people have with AoC is two fold:

 

1) A lot of people could be potentially dupped into buying something unfinished (has happened countless times before), and people shouldn't have to pay for something and find out they didn't get what they paid for.

2) A company could be funded to release something unfinished, further encouraging the cycle of poor quality releases that the genre is so well known for.

This is why its important to bring out concerns beforehand, and not after, a game has released. This is why it is important to make sure the playerbase knows what it is buying, and knows what it is getting... BEFOREHAND.

Anyone that disagrees with educating the playerbase on these things, whether the truth is good or bad... is trying to screw you.

That's why you have open beta's.  Open beta's give preview's into games to let gamers know if they want to buy it or not.  There's no better or more trustworthy way to make a decision about buying a game then an open beta.  None.  

I'm a little fuzzy on how people making posts about concerns will alleviate the problem of people being dupped into buying an unfinished product.  Are the concerns based on beta experience, or just assumptions and a game of follow the leader?  Nothing I've heard is based on anything other then a misguided sense of entitlement.  And in this instance funding is a mute point.  AoC is fully funded and more.

Basically both of your two fold points make no sense when you look at them logically. 

The real problem isn't that those on the chicken little train are right or are doing the community some wonderful service (which they aren't), it's that so many people are willing to jump on it without seeming to really think for themselves.  And that is actually a valid concern.

Nice update.  It seems like they're really trying to listen and improve the game so good on the devs for this game.

Removing equipment expertise was a definite plus.  I always thought that was just a horrible way to try doing something new.  It was just an overly complicated system that really didn't address any of the problems they wanted it to like economy, I think was the big one.  In fact many of us argued against adding it in beta but the devs were pretty much sold on putting it in regardless of what was said.

It amazes me how some of you are trying to trivialize this achievement.  Sure, WoW has it's problems but the numbers are simply stagering whether they're 9 mil or 8.9, or 5.9.  It's still an amazing achievement in MMO history.  And it's ridiculous to say sure 9 mil play but that doesn't mean the game's a good one!!111   That reminds me of a kid trying to hold on to their anger even when they're totally in the wrong and don't have a leg to stand on.  Wake up and get over yourselves and your hate-obsession.  Your not liking a game or a company does not automatically mean the game or company is bad or that the game sucks.  The numbers for this game are not dwindling they're growing which in itself is amazing seeing as how long it's been live.

And no I don't play anymore but I still see these numbers (whatever you want to round them to) as simply amazing.

Originally posted by wicked357

If AoC is truly going to be DX10 only that is gonna hurt this company just cause alot of people are not gonna fork out the what 300+ for vista just to play a game I personally think they should rethink that whole strategy you cant force people to just into the future "Vista" alot of companys are not even compatible with vista yet I know I had vista installed till some of my expensive software wouldnt work for it.

lrn2knowwhatyouretalkingaboutbeforeranting

AoC is not DX10 only.  Where'd you get such a lamebrain idea?  In fact most if not all of the movies we've seen have been DX9.  Go to the site, or use By Mitra and educate yourself before your brain implodes from the vacuum between your ears.

Originally posted by Dreamagram

Let me try some numbers...

World of Warcraft
Last announced numbers: more than 2 mill in US, more than 1.5 mill in Europe (http://blizzard.com/press/070123.shtml)
Realms: 224 US, 235 European (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/realmstatus/ and http://www.wow-europe.com/en/serverstatus/)
Supported players / realm: more than 7625

Lord of the Rings Online
Realms: 12 US, 11 European (http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77 and http://www.lotro-europe.com/service.php)

Assumptions
1. LotRO has a more casual playerbase.
2. LotRO uses later and better server technology.
3. Due to 1 and 2 a LotRO realm can support two to three times the number of subscribers, say 20k for simplicity.

Conclusion
LotRO has ~460000 subscribers (20k per realm times 23 realms).

Adjustments
Adjust assumptions to own tastes and do the math. Note that the latest WoW numbers came in January, so make your own assumptions on current numbers too. I believe the number of realms back than was fairly close to what it is today though.

In any case, best of luck to Turbine and LotRO. Though it wasn't entirely to my taste, I hope the game is doing very well, and continues to do so. We need more subscription based games above the 500k mark.

/em hands out the best post of the thread award

Originally posted by Torak

Originally posted by gatheris

Originally posted by Torak

Its an MMORPG. All servers are RPG servers by default. They should make special servers for people who don't want to RP.

thank-you

 

 

 

Originally posted by Paks

 

Originally posted by Torak

Its an MMORPG. All servers are RPG servers by default. They should make special servers for people who don't want to RP.

 

 

..... and is totally out of touch with reality. 

 

And here is your problem between mmo players. They can't even agree what their genre title means let alone what makes a good one.

I'm not out of touch with reality on anything bro  The games are RPG's first clear and simple. What the players have changed into I don't know or care. I'm not an RPer (notice my sig? I would prefer running your avatar over with a tank that getting into this debate, but like a bad person I took the bait and ran with it) but I understand what the games were originally intending to do. What MMOs originally started out as were world simulators that gave the player total control of how they wanted to play in a NON linear format.

Obviously the community isn't interested in doing it and the games really aren't being designed with those types of players anymore. They are built now for achiever type players who don't really have any interest in anything RP, hell they don't even want to read the darn quest. They just want to see increasing numbers. Current MMO players are more like console gamers (and thats not a bad thing in some respects) but they want linear, guided gameplay with visible easily indentifiable goals.  

Well, you're definitely out of touch with is what I'm actually saying.  I'm not saying MMORPGs are not RPG's.  I'm saying calling something an MMORPG does not and never has equated to the servers supporting RP.  Slapping a label on something does not make it so.  That takes another level of positive commitment from the community and from the developers, part of which is supporting an RP server.

And I think any current dev team would disagree with your assertion that their games basically ignore the RP community in favor of achiever type players.  Emotes, housing, clothing, cities with gathering places like taverns... do you think the PvE, or PvP crowd inspired that avenue of design?  Current games can and do try to cater to PvE first, sure, because that's the basic staple playstyle for MMOs.  After that you have RP and PvP, and the PvP depends on what type of MMO your game is (primarily PvP focused, no PvP, or PvP as a minor focus).

Not wanting to officially sponsor RP servers has nothing to do with a community not wanting it.  In fact, if you follow any MMO just in development, RP is and always will be a hot topic of discussion whether it's about  Lore, realism, types of server support just to name a few areas I see discussed.  Not wanting to support RP servers indicates to me a lack in a developers commitment to an important portion of their  community, and I'd say the same for PvP.

Originally posted by Torak

Its an MMORPG. All servers are RPG servers by default. They should make special servers for people who don't want to RP.

That's all well and good in theory but the notion that MMORPG means all servers are RP has never materialized to be working as intended.  IMO, this saying is nothing more then a cop-out and is totally out of touch with reality.  Turbine likes using this excuse and NCsoft does as well and what they've ended up with in their MMOs is regular servers with pocket RP and more OOC. 

Regardless, there is no good excuse for not supporting RP servers in any MMO today.  Some games can get away without having it only because the theme for the game caters to a high RP environment with little effort.  Games like AO and Eve come to mind for that, but  fantasy style MMOs pretty much need at least one server that's officially supported.