Placeholders.

The population at lower levels is low. Without joining a guild and the help of mentoring guildies it is hard to enjoy low level dungeons in groups.

Originally posted by jimsmith08

Any links to info on the redevelopment? What are they changing?

Nope. No information is available on redevelopment afaik. Just that Frogster is doing it and that the plan was to be ready somewhere next year.

Originally posted by fatenabu1

yes, acclaim is reworking the game to be used with cash shop similar to their other games. right now there is no cash shop, the cash shop will be out sometime next year.

Maybe it is not so important, but it is not Acclaim that is doing the rework on the game. Acclaim would not even know how to begin. It is Frogster, and probably their Korean developers that already assisted during the earlier development of the game..

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by catlana

I really disagree with Blizz selling in game items. I can live with Blizz selling vanity pets. However, I will stop playing the moment that Blizz  sells gear / gold.

 

What if they start selling keys to new dungeons?

That would make lfg more cumbersome.

Originally posted by Teala

Dude - there is like a bazillion post on this thread...OMG if I took the time to read all the responses I'd be in an old folks home cleaning my dentures!

I am honoured that you chose to read my post while ignoring all others, but you really should not have.

Originally posted by Teala

I really do not see the issue here, Blizzard has been selling game cards that have codes on them that allows people to get items in game and some really cool things at that!  So what is the difference?  Instead they offer them for sell without all the hassle of buying the cards and hoping you get the code.    There really is no difference.    But because Blizzard did this...they are teh suck?  Get real...they have had this for a long time now, whether you like it or not.    It's just been disguised.   

NOTE:  I didn't read any of hte other repsonders post before commenting so if some one else all ready mentioned this I apologize.   Also...I think BLizzard should giove a whole 100% of proceeds from the sells of the one pet to the Make A Wish Foundation.    They are selling two pets.   One gives them profit and the other goes to charity.   That is cool with me.

Sorry, I did not read your post. What did it say?

Giving part of their newly discovered way of milking the cow to charity is only an attempt to prevent the loss of goodwill, but comes accross as cynical and causes them to loose even more goodwill. For some this may even be an eye-opener. Blizzard is no saint.

Originally posted by Gel214th

Which I think is what happened.

You are not far from the truth, but what actually happened is that they ran out of money long before launch date and were not able to maintain a full development team to give the game the polish it needed. Many features that were planned were not in at launch. Your complaint about quest tracking are exaggerated in my eyes, but it is true that the game could have used more features some of them way more important then better quest tracking. Alas.

I have no doubt that Frogster will do something about these shortcomings, but I am afraid Frogster will not stop at that and change the core of the game too. The result of that is unknown. We will see.

Originally posted by Gel214th

Chat was filled 90% with people asking where Mobs, NPCS and quest targets were.

Which in the case of most quest was a bit surprising, because the directions in the quest text were very clear to me. In all cases it turned out that people did not read the quest texts. It is true that developers did not take that into account, but should they have? Should game developers take into account all bad habits that gamers did pick up elsewhere. You claim they should have. That is your right; to have an opinion. But I think you are exaggerating in your post. The game was nowhere near hardcore. It just expected players to enjoy the lore by actually reading the quest texts.

Originally posted by xenorace

What I did not like is the lack of instanced dungeons. There were none.

There are six of them, but one of the high level ones was still closed to the public when Spellborn went bankrupt. The first one, Exarchyon, is for level 25 and above and this is the best one in the game. You need to do a quest chain that starts in Ringfel Hearth to gain access to it though.

I regret never to have figured out the right tactic to kill the spider boss in the Forge (a small high level instance with its entrance in the Green District). Good fun though.

About Frogster turning this game into a f2p game. Nothing has been said about what will be changed. So, some of us old fans are wondering whether Frogsster will turn the game around without destroying it. The core of the game was considered to be totally unsuited for micro-transactions. We fear the worst.

BTW, this:

It was highly anticipated before its release, but after the beta release, it was soon clear that it was not all that successful in the pay to play model. This forced them to go into redevelopment.

Is not entirely correct. It was not that the game would not be successful in the pay to play model. The way that the publishers of Spellborn themselves sabotaged the gamelaunch  would have caused any business model to fail. In hind sight it was probably done deliberate because the publishers did not like the p2p business model.

Originally posted by mightyikari

This is the best comment I've read in these forums.

Richard? Hm, too much whining to be him. Well worded though, I agree.

Hopefully something new. Maybe FFXIV or HoT. Else it will be something old not on the presented list, like EQ2 or even TCoS.

I am absolutely sure beyond the shadow of any doubt that in one years time AION will have more than one subscriber to be sure, unless I am mistaken.

This article shows again that people won't "bite the hand that feeds" them, but in between the lines you can read as in all previous articles why the f2p approach sucks so much. On the other hand, this article is informative in many ways. Perhaps even more informative than was intended. I did like reading it.

I believe that the confirmation about the target audience of f2p games is spot on.

Personally I believe that the f2p business model is a problematic one in that it is very hard (or challenging) to make a profit from it, and this article seems to confirm that too.

This has already been posted on this forum

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/257361/Alganon-launch-now-1st-Dec.html

Originally posted by PhelimReagh

If Alganon is a success, bully for them. But in my opinion a more creative pricing model could have increased their chances dramatically.

I doubt a different pricing model will help them. The niche market they are aiming for is hardly influenced by the price of the product. They need to make their product more outstanding IMO. Signs at the moment are not looking good. However, when they change the pricing model now, it will be seen as a defeat and an indication for the fact that they do no longer believe in their own product.

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

 

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Originally posted by Delanor

 
So, normal pricing, not more expensive than games like lotro, war, aoc, wow, eq2. That was to be expected.

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Uh no. Lotro costs $10 to purchase (that includes the original game AND Moria expansion) and if you go on a 3 month sub for $30 you get the expansion coming out in December for free.

So no..it's nothing like Lotro.

But keep spinning away.
 

At launch LOTRO did cost $49.99. Go troll somewhere else.

Originally posted by Finwe

uhm.....for 1. Most the MMRPGers are teens 2. Adults can be just as immature as some 15 year old, as where a 15 year old can be as mature as some adults.

 

Only when comparing the latter with the adults that are just as immature as 15 year olds of course. There is a level of maturity that a 15 year old can never reach. However, whether that is relevant for playing games is anoher discussion.

For a game that is ranked to be the best mmorpg to have ever seen the light of day, I would have expected a review that was a bit more inspired and detailed. Instead this review was slightly boring and way to short to do the best game ever any justice.