FOM started to die at the the end of Open Beta when developers and publishers never listened to the players.  The article mentions graphics, why is it all developers etc seem to still think that graphics are the most important thing in a game?
 

In Beta we were all happy with graphics, then someone decided to update the graphic engine just after we all spent months of ironing out all the graphic gliches and bugs. The change was for the worse, we still had the old style background and objects, but a totally new carachter frame which ruined the look and feel.
 

The point with FOM was that most of the roleplay went on outside of the game environment,  this was one of the few MMORPGS which encourages proper politics, relations, interaction , espienge, spying , inflitration , promotion, careers and so on.
 

FOM could have improved in a number of areas and been even better, another mistake was to turn it into a FPS game, which again was wrong, a direction that we could see in BETA. 

I had the joy to be invovled in closed beta right through to end of open Beta, it was the best MMORPG experience i have ever had.

RIP FOM

Most people who say FOM is rubbish, even in early Beta are most likley only interested in PvP games.   FOM had huge amount of potential, see other threads, but the role play was neglected and ruined.  too many people comming in looking for PvP and the game suited those who were good at running around in circles hotkeying medkits.

FOM early BETA is one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had, nothing has come close to it, and ive played dozens of MMORPGS.  when it went to end of BETA and P2P it was a completly different game, it had been butchered by the developers and left in a poorer state with more bugs and problems than there were before the graphics engine changed. 

Graphics are not everything, I didint really care about the Graphics, everything looked fine to me , it was all about the Roleplay and interaction between factions players and superiors, having to look after and order junior ranks around etc.... Fancy graphic PvP are 10 a penny, but a true Roleplay game that has the same conecpt as FOM is extinct .

Why oh WHy did they have to screw FOM up?

Originally posted by DragenSoul

At first I thought all these changes were COMPLETE ASS!!

 

Then I thought it out. And I think these are really good ideas. But i depends on how they implement them.

The stats thing could be done right if "PERSONAL SKILL" is still a major factor in combat instead of stats. Like other games.

 

Worlds for socializing and worlds for combat. Could be done right if they dont just say "Hey you can take your gun out here" Socializing worlds should have the option to kill someone. But the chances of you surviving are slim.

They should keep vortexes in. Or atleast give us some kind of travel.

As for safe havens etc i thought that was why turrets where introduced.  FOM would have attracted a lot more RPG people had it not gone down a PvP orientated route.  Makeing things more realistic would have worked wonders.
 Being able to kill someone with just a couple of shots would have helped, this would have created a more realistic society, people woud be more willing to group together for saftey ,  people wanting to kill would be reluctant to open fire around  even small groups  people as they would die quickly themesleves without any reward.

LED and FDC would have more sence of purpose and rewards in patroling and guarding , more roleplay in body guard duties , guarding faciities such as DMC would be better too , we would not see farces like having a couple of people just  being able to run up hacking doors while having to be shot with a thousand rounds before they got anywhere near dying.

Sorry but these changes just simply are a poor attempt to fix the stable door long after the horse has bolted.

I Was with FOM from CLOSED Beta , it wasn’t until Open Beta I really found out how wonderful FOM could be when I rose up to become a R6 LED and Warden of DMC (guess who !) This time is still the best MMORPG experience I have ever had and will most likely ever have, I Still reminisces about DMC and the things that went on, I have even backed up the hundreds of screenshots I have and cherish them, something I have never ever done with any MMORPG. oh the stories I could tell and the fun that was had… I do not think of any MMORPG in this way, so yes FOM had the potential to become the best ever MMORPG ever known to man.

However the developers made mistake after mistake. Who remember the graphics engine change halfway through Beta? With this engine change saw many other changes, along with a shed load of new bugs, that made the game grind to halt, no more dark places to hide in DMC for example, TURRETS ARGH..( bane of my life and my downfall, but that’s another story), not being able to drop items on floor and many other little things that gradually removed all kind of role play features, simply not allowing items to be dropped ruined what little of DMC role play was left after the turrets killed DMC roleplay. One of the fun things was seeking out weapons drops and caches inside the prison for example.

FOM became more of a PvP and overrun with immature kiddies who had no idea what roleplay is let alone knowing how to interact with others, and so FOM quickly died. IN end it seemed like the developers were trying to make it into too many different things, The main unique selling feature of FOM was the player driven role play and the politics and alliances that can be made, spying and espionage was fantastic could go on and on, but no they decide to make it PvP, if I want PvP I could play almost any other MMORPG going, but no lets listen to the kiddies who want to play with guns all day.

Too many mistakes and wrong directions and decision making ruined FOM and now we see it almost dead. I am not surprised to be honest, I am just sad something was killed before it had a chance to grow, otherwise I would still be playing FOM , there is no doubt about that.