Originally posted by Ozmodan

Nice site, seems to me the writer is incredibly naive to say the least.  The thought that his gamemasters can control the cheaters is hilarious.

I wish them luck, would love to find a good sandbox like this without the permadeath.  Once your character gets around 90 deaths your gameplay will become incredibly risk adverse, now tell me how much fun that will be.

Thanks, I made it. The text you read are developer quotes.

What makes you think reaching 90 deaths will make someone avoid risk? Do you sit at home the whole day behind your computer, avoiding risk? You only have one life, yet I bet you still go out there and cross the street, drive a car, maybe even bungee jump or skydive. Why do you take those risks? 

That's life, you enjoy it, it's the experience that counts, not the end. We all die, why can't our characters in a game die? Why do we view a character grind as work? It's a game, it's supposed to be entertaiment. A game of chess, soccer or super mario brothers also ends. Do you view them as work as well? Do you avoid those games because they end?

I'd say, you seem to have at least more than a fleeting interest in the other concepts of this game, why don't you sign up on the official forums and present your concerns about grieving and PD on the boards and discuss them with the rest of the members. We have quite a few who are still against PD, so it should make for some interesting discussion. And I'm sure the developers would also love to hear your concerns. Either you'll manage to point out to them a flaw that they haven't thought of, or they might convince you that PD might not be so bad after all :)

Originally posted by danwest58

I dont live in my parents basement anymore to the point I can play a game from 5pm Friday night until 9pm Sunday night non stop.  I am lucky to get 5 to 10 hours a week to play and if I am going to get a perma death and loose hundreds of hours worth of work I am not going to play that game. 

So you also don't watch movies anymore, because they inevitably "end", and that would be a waste of 2 hours watching time? Or read books, because they also have an ending? Never play chess?

Nearly every game that was ever conceived by humans has an ending. Chess, Go, Checkers, Super Mario, Soccer, Baseball... How come you view it as a "loss of time" when your character dies? Isn't it the experience that counts, the gameplay itself? And doesn't it open up the doors to try something new, a new character, a new experience altogether?

There's this mentality of viewing MMO's and their characters as "work" it seems, and PD threatens for you to "lose" this work and time you put in. This is a twisted way to look at things though, probably brought on to us by all the level grind MMO's where you could only have an impact on the game if you had the highest level, the best gear, etc.

Wake up guys, it's still a GAME, not WORK. So what if it has a defined ending? Start over, and play again! ToA doesn't have a level grind, and you don't need to spend hours and hours to make a real impact on other players or settlements. 

Think of all the benefits of PD that most people already tried to point out... a decent economy sink, a character sink, no stale status-quo's between the most powerful characters/guilds, an actual beginning, mid-point and ending to your own personal story, more attachment to your character, etc.

Let me ask you one last question: why do you spend time with your family? They are going to permadie at some point, so isn't it a waste of time?

I'm sorry, I'm also 30+ myself and I know what you're saying about having less time to play games and all, but to think of it as a waste of time just because your character can permadie on you is an utterly wrong perspective imo. In fact, I just started playing D3 again in hardcore mode, where even lag or a computer crash can wipe out your character. I still do it. Why? Because it's 100x more enjoyable and exciting than playing a game where death has no consequences.

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Perma death leads to detachment from character. thats not what MMOs need.

On the contrary... I feel 100x more attached to my Diablo 3 hardcore character than to my normal character.

Death adds meaning and consequences, it makes the whole gameplay more meaningful. You WILL bond with your character. 

Agreed, and I am really curious to see how often people will start to get lost. The profession of "local guide" will definitely be something that you'll see people do.

You will probably want to grow familiar with your immediate surroundings first, before you venture out in the world. 

An update on mining: the latest developers podcast has revealed that the majority of currency in the game will actually come from mining in the ground. This means that pretty much all the gold in the economy will be injected by the players themselves, and will NOT come from static NPC merchants that stand around with an infinite amount of gold, ready to buy anything the players throw at them. In fact, there will be no such merchants at all... only player run NPC merchants, stocked by the players for the players.

I imagine settlement mining shafts will be heavily protected structures.

What I like about the magic system is the fact that it will be hard, very hard to become a powerful mage. However, the ones that do succeed, will potentially be very powerful. This will make magic rare and when you do encounter it, it will probably blow you away (literally). It is also great that by trying to learn magic, you actually risk blowing yourself up as well.

Another thing I like, is the concept of having to craft your own spellbook. This adds yet another layer of danger to becoming a mage, because you have to travel to all corners of the world to find the ingredients for your book.

I am not too sure yet what I think of the concept of having to fight entities to obtain spells or spell words. But I'm sure I'll give it a go at one point and see what it's all about.

Great podcast indeed, I was impressed with the amount of questions they addressed and answered. No dodging, no "vaulting", to the point and good stuff.

For those that'd prefer to read through the podcast, a transcript is available here. Note that only the first half is there now, but it will be updated with the rest soon.