All Posts by Ramsie

The last comment bugs me.

Why should it take any level of pre-defined time. And why should that be what the game is about. A good MMO requires dynamic systems at end game to keep it fresh. Not static dungeons to raid for the 500th time.

Dont get me wrong, I enjoy a good dungeon crawl, and a game needs them. However, for a developer to stand a chance at keeping up in content, with players pace of gaming, they need systems that help.

AoC has done this with the City Siege system.

www.mortalonline.com

Since they seem to say the same thing about their game, lets see who makes it first...

I cant tell much difference between the products heh

In some respects the SOE spy game will have a feel of an Oceans Eleven with its music and gameplay. So I think someone is at minimum looking to fill that space.

A Dungeons and Dragons MMO exists to this day. The fact you say you are a fan and did not know is scary.

Star Trek just went poof with Perpetual Entertainment, with rumors floating about that Cryptic has picked it up. So that may still be on its way.

As for wrestling, I think there are limited things you occupy the time. This would feel more like a matchmaking or "gamespy" type system which was tried with Fury.

My opinion, im sure it smells like roses to me, and poo to some others :)

Ubisoft did post about some network outtage, but it seems to have been resolved now.

Unreal has had a checkered past as an MMO platform.

There is really only a single success, and that is with Lineage 2, using the Unreal 2 engine.

We have some troubled launches as well with Vanguard using Unreal 2.5

And we have some very troubled development games with Huxley and SUN and others using the platform.

I love the Unreal Platform for the games using it in its created capacity, but the expansion to include an MMO has yet to show me its really a smart choice.

Two completely different markets with the RPG and FPS crowds. Both can exist and excel without hurting the other.

Until FPS games get off the war of technology, MMO development for them is not there yet.

Originally posted by eccoton

Originally posted by Kasmar

The $50 for the client pays for the years of development cost of the game.  The game company is perfectly within their rights to recoup those costs which are substantial. 

You should also be able to try the game out before you buy the client, which is why most game companies today offer a free trial.  If you like the game after the free trial then you can buy the client.

The monthly fee pays for the ongoing development of the game, the huge bandwidth costs, and for the server maintenance costs, plus any other expenses involved in running an online game. 

Games which do not charge a monthly fee have other ways of recouping their expenses.  No company is going to pay you to play their game. 

 

I agree with most of what you say. However I wonder about monthly fees needed to maintain the game. NCsoft seems to keep their Guild Wars running and updated with out a monthly fee. It is not the fee so much as the cost of the fee. Do they really need to charge 15 bucks which seems to be the standard. I bet with 10 million players WoW could charge 4.99 a month and still make huge profits.

The base structure in which GW is developed allowed them to minimize their own bandwidth costs. As anyone who plays the game finds out quickly, its really an instanced game and not a seemless world like other MMO's. GW's is Battle.net with the cities acting as the lobby allowing you to socialize with an avatar and not a chat channel. So in many ways, its not an MMORPG, but much more a matchmaking service for an RPG inspired arena combat game. Smart on their part and its proven there is a market. But it should explain some of why they can get away with no fees.

Also, much of the expense post launch is customer service. Whether you feel it is adequate or not, its a large expense to take on.

Honestly, MMO's continue to deliver the best monetary value for gaming. If you play console game mostly, and buy 1 a month, you spend more a year than you will with a subscription based MMO.

I do agree with the notion that paying a full price for the box is a bit of a stretch. I feel we will see this come down over time, but there is an aspect to this that I feel is not understood by the consumer, until they hear it.

Games that are free have a stigma attached to them. They must not be that great if its free. So any company, who spends the money on a AAA MMO project is not wanting to have to face that at launch. It is going to take some of the larger companies to make this step first to help others be able to overcome the stigma. EA with their bew Battlefield Heroes supports this idea and is the first "free" game of quality from a known publisher to be created this way from the ground up. (If there was any others I missed em, so please point me to them as I would love to see them as well.)

PvP was added around 4 or 5 months after launch

I dont recall pickpocketing at all, however disarming made your weapon drop to the ground in pvp, which was brutal. Changed because of the imbalance it brought between caster not needing a weapon and a warrior who required one.

Also, it had full loot for a short time, then went to a single item loot. Anything not in a bag from inventory, and anything worn (unless flagged as no drop)

I agree, the timing of EQ was perfect for it to have the success it did, however I wont say it was all luck. To do anything first means you also deal with the "firsts" of the problems as well. It was a herculean effort to get to market, and one that on a few occassions, almost never did. I beleive Verant faced closing its doors twice during development of EQ.

2 things

1. Checking the GS listing of WAR, there is no mention of the beta code anywhere in their CE description. So that may be a correction due to this problem, or the source of the confusion.

2. Reading what Amazon states, I am unclear to something. Do you get in to BETA now, or simply have a code ready for OPEN BETA?

Thanks in advance

Considered its them say they are "looking at it" as an option I can see why it may not have been covered.

Reading the article they are ambitious to try and get all the game modes in clancy titles into a single experience.

Good Luck to them

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

In all seriousness, people should judge the game by themselves, either Trial or Buddy Key. Only true way to know if you like the game or not.

The above poster has it right to some degree, for those that don't have the time to install or try a game and rely on a reviewer then well thats their choice.

Lets not forget that this is being made by FUNCOM, Eidos is just the publisher. For Europe they are better than GOA or Codemasters..

besides I bet the OP loved Eidos published / made games before said allegations.

It is a different animal for sure, as many publishers have shown an inability to understand over time with some products. Its not that they are uncapable, but the console format of publishing is not a model that works for MMO's and is often overlooked.

Console is a Fire and Forget launch, while an MMO needs care and a marketing plan that extends long after a 30 day launch period.

Like I said, I may have missed which MMO Eidos has supported in Europe, so I was curious if you had some information on that.

Thanks

Originally posted by Pappy13

 

Originally posted by Unstoppable

Don't forget Vivendi said that all of Blizzard's franchises will eventually become MMO's. So my money is on Diablo Online ;).

Actually what Vivendi said is that they would like all of Blizzard's franchises to eventually become MMO's.  Of course they would, more MMO's mean more money for Vivendi.  But now that Blizzard has split with Vivendi and is partnered with Activision, they really don't have any say in the matter.

 

The rumors that it's NOT based on a current Blizzard IP are sketchy at best, but it's definately a possibility.  I'd say the odds that it's a completely new IP are about on par with the odds that it will be one of their existing IP's, which basically means that at this point no one really knows other than Blizzard and they aren't talking just yet.  It's all hear say and inuendo.

And for those people who like to mention the code name Hydra and somehow infer that has some meaning, you do realize why they use code words in the first place, right?  It's so that they don't give away any information.  I'd say the fact they chose the name Hydra has about as much significance as if they would have chosen Tom for the code name.

Vivendi is not out of the equation, just the day to day operations.

LOL yah I have to agree that is going a bit far the other way.

How about we all wait and see and give them some time to get their stuff together. Its been maybe 12 months since they opened their doors, and it takes time to hire a team and move them out.

I am anxious as many are to see what they have been working on. I will wait until that time to pass judgement, because at this time there is no basis one way or another to judge what they can accomplish.

Just remember even the very best developers start someplace. Jaffe and God of War, WIll Wright and SimAnt. You just never know where it starts and where the journey ends until you get there.

Originally posted by candygirl6

 

Originally posted by U-Turn

Old news.  Schilling is a big time Gamer.  He posts all the time over on that board with those freaks.  FOH where that McQuaid story came from.

 

Oh wow

Why am I not surprised. It sounds like a really professional company. I mean a baseball player and an action figure maker. /sarcasm

^_^

 

Who would ever think 2 doctors would make the largest RPG powerhouse in the world..You have heard of Bioware right?

Originally posted by Blurr

Cause if there's one thing the genre needs, it's a game making a name for itself on the career of a minor celebrity.

Seriously, I had no idea who Curt Schilling was and had to actually go look him up for this post. Sure he likes MMOs and that's great, but how is that supposed to make him a good developer?

I do not know the man nor work with him. If he walks around acting as if he knows it all, then I am sure we will see it in the result. However, looking at who has called in to work at 38, I would say he is not that type of owner, and delegates to those who know who to do the job.

I wish him and 38 all the best

Originally posted by DeaconX

I'm not hating on Turbine at all because to be honest, they came out with a damn solid game.  YES, it's a WoW clone.  But it's a solid, stable WoW clone that works.  And it really works for people who don't want something deeper.  I'm sure it wasn't Turbine who decided 'Let's chop out all these interesting features we wanted to bring to MEO and play it extremely safe!' but people who had money invested in the game and thus control.

Developers are unfortunately slaves to the ones in power witht he cash to spare, and those people want a safe investment so they tell the developer to make the game safe, and in turn the product turns out 'average' but by far NOTHING special.

I don't even hate WoW honestly, in fact I love it.  I don't play the game, but I love what it DID for MMORPG's in that it made the genre popular enough to suddenly have a bunch of MMORPG's in development for us to choose from.  Yes, many of them will be lame copycats.

BUT, there will come those which will really stand out.  I doubt Blizzard will make a WoW clone when they eventually make a Diablo MMORPG or a more likely STARCRAFT MMORPG.  And the guys at BioWare are better than that.  I'm very confidet they will create something special.

I am not exactly sure to this point, but knowing Turbine and that they are independent, they fund their own projects. That being said, the only party that could influence the design would be the Tolkien Estate itself. Would they be close enough to WoW to demand changes? I doubt it. Sounds to me like these changes from MEO to LOTRO may have been made internally.

This is great. We always come across a few of these posts with any game offering PVP as a major part of the game systems.

perma death can be in any game YOU wish to have it in, and here is how...

The next time you are playing any MMO, and you die....wait for it, here it comes....

Go delete your character. Holy crap its perma death in any mmo without a dev lifting a finger...genius!

basically what I am saying is this, if you ant it, you can play it. most people who are sane, do not wish to lose any of their efforts to uncontrollable encounters.

The Chronicle does not display the server information properly. There are servers up and playing.

Even with some good posts, I think the reason is being overlooked. (I have not read every post, so if someone stated this, right on)

Fantasy is popular over Sci-Fi for a very understandable reason. People get it. People know what a sword is, and how its supposed to work. Let me give you an example.

You find a +5 fiery Longsword of Doom

You Find a XY3-5H Carbine

Now, I obviously names are arbitrary in some ways because I can make up whatever I want in either case. However, at a root level, you and I both know how to use the first example, where as the second is what exactly? I think players having the base understanding of a Fantasy world is why we see it as common as we do. Less time spent teaching about the intricate aspects of the world, and more time expanding it.

This is my personal opinion based on years of gaming and development.