My list.

1)  Asheron's Call:  Pretty much new graphics, more skills that are useful and reign in the levels a bit more.  That is one of the reasons I don't go back to AC, my highest (even if I could remember the password) was only in his late 30s/early 40s back when I left, high level now is like 162 (or higher).  Who wants to start at the bottom when most of the people playing are well past that point?

2)  Anarchy Online (The first MMO where I was the guild leader).  Needs some better animations, lose the expansions and get back to the core of the game, Omni v Clan.  Open up some new skill lines (like diplomacy for bureaucrats) and instead of completely dynamic missions, make the missions dynamic, but leave the buildings static.  It was a real immersion kill when I walked into a building in OT to find that it was the inside of a dead snake...  Or some random hole in the wilderness that is a subway station.  Also, where are all the people who were supposed to be working in those facilities?  Those are some areas they could really improve upon.  Last thing here is levels, make leveling slower, but make fewer levels.  It is really easy to lose scale (especially in a PvP world) where you have 100+ level spreads.

3)  Shadowbane:  Fix the hacks, fix the UI (probably the worst thing in that game), open up the ability to cross 'shards' as they had originally planned (which would allow for more...  interesting expansions where new shards are found), I'd like to see some serious upgrades in city building (ability to build larger cities, multi guild cities, roads, the ability to expand 'laws' to surrounding territories, etc).  And for a finally, they had the best lore I've EVER seen for a custom IP MMO, incorporate that into the system better.

What we almost have to wonder though, is this the groundwork for an AO 2?

Think about it, they will have the entire world rebuilt into a top line engine, the core of the game is already there.  Build new character models (and animations), update the mission system and return to Rubi-Ka in High End graphics is very viable as a new release game.

Some nice updates in those graphicss.  Would love to see some of Rome.

I agree.  The faces were a big impact on me visually, these (even without the engine update) would help out alot.

Originally posted by AgtSmith

Just to be fair here, I am not saying this is a malicious program - it is just a question of the method it uses to accomplish its assigned task being inappropriate at best and illicit, even harmful, at worst.  understand that illicit and harmful doesn't have to mean the program is farming data and CC numbers and shipping them to Kenya, it can simply mean a program is operating in a way that causes issues or interferes with the normal operation of the operating system or other programs.  If you are on the fence, or if you are of the thinking that this is a reason to avoid a game that uses it there is an alternative to just skipping the game (though that is the only way programs like GG will be forced to legitimate methods).  You can setup a dual boot and use that second boot of your operating system to run the game - I would recommend that you remove the drive letters form the main install on the dual booted operating system just to make access to that file system harder, and there are ways to hide it completely if you so choose.

 

The best way to do this is to not install your other operating system to the same disk rather to install it to a second disk, internal or external and to do it while the main disk is disconnected so that the entirety of the operating system, boot files and all, are on this alternate disk.  Otherwise, if you are just partitioning and installing to a second partition then the main operating system will be a system disk to the alternate operating system requiring it to be available and visible to the alternate operating system.  This is particularly easy if you have remotely modern hardware as all motherboards these days have a simple list in the BIOS that lets you define the main boot disk and they will also let you change that by hitting a key during post and selecting a disk to boot to (typically esc or f12).  Programs like EasyBCD also make this very manageable allowing you a graphical interface for BCD (vista and win 7 boot manager) that will allow you to easily create boot menus but keep in mind if you use something like EasyBCD or VistaBootPro your main operating system will remain a system disk to the alternate system as you would be using the boot files of that main system to load the alternate, even if they are on different physical disks.  That is why I think it is best to maintain the separate installs on separate disks and for this type of purpose (a dedicated gaming machine or other system with which you will use some DRM infected software) use the bios level boot disk selection to keep things very segmented.

Yah, I don't think their intent is malicious either.  It would be better if they provided a way to uninstall the program (in its entirety) as well as allowing it to be appropriately shut down when you aren't playing a GG game.  But neither of those features are available, thus I won't use it.

I will not be playing Aion due to this (I was on the fence about it before, but GG pushes me to the WNP side firmly).  I have experienced this pos program before and it did nothing good for me forcing to spend the better part of 2 evening rebuilding my computer to get it off of it.

I will never run another game (even if all of them use it) that uses that program again.

That, my friend, I do not know.

I'm just waiting for them to do this upgrade to come back.

I loved the game back in the day, but my guild fell apart due to all the bugs at launch :(

Heck, I'd almost rather see them to an AO 2 without all this crap they added and go back to the original story arc.  Improve the skill system a bit and let it fly!

I installed GG once for some FtP game (Mamboniji or something like that), had to do a complete system restore to get my computer to run correctly afterwards.

Maybe they've improved it since then, but I will never play another game that does that, I simply do not have the personal time to rebuild my computer that often.  It isn't a root kit and the security issues are vague and may or may not be true, but it is a very poorly written piece of software that I will not install again, ever.

I don't think SoE has learned that lesson yet actually...  They are still making core changes to their older titles...

That being said, if they are talking on a conceptional level, then Bioware may have a point, I prefer the free form character system from the original SWG, but many don't.  They simply do not have the desire to play something this isn't the classic EQ model.

That being said, I came originally from AC and the free form school and it is what I prefer, though I doubt I'll ever really see it again.

For me it was the game controls for combat.  My hand hurt from all the clicking this game had for months after I quit.  I tried other methods of control, but I was never able to get them to work as well as clicking and using the mouse was for me.  Beyond that was the pathetic class balance in a PvP game, it would of been a fine balance concept for a PvE game, but in PvP, tanks were pretty much useless (unless they were of a certain level/spec'd a certain way), especially after a number of the nerfs.

I think I left 3 months in, I really tried to like the game.  I loved Tortage the first 3 times through, after that it got REALLY old.  I really wanted to like the guardian, but what good is the best armor in the game when players can ignore you and go after the squishy DPSer?  Then once you got to the 50's the combos required so much clicking that it was ridiculous.

I love PvP, but there is a reason I avoid FFA PvP games/servers and you need to look no further than the OP to find the reason.

Griefers, cheaters and whiners...

Originally posted by Egamst3k

Originally posted by jaxsundane

 

This is a very true statement that the overall financial outlook has had a great effect on developers but I do have to add that the way they try to use the economy as an excuse doesn't sit well.These kind of statements to me are akin to a person commiting murder and then blaming a song that they heard on the radio.

 

That's an incredibly poor analogy, no offense.

A company's ability to raise capital is heavily metered by the Fed and surrounding entities. Since most up-start companies rely almost exclusively on debt (hence the incredibly high volatility) through Bonds, IPOs, and general lending through major banks (whose interest rates are heavily influenced by the Fed), funding availability in a Recession -as we're in - is slim.

This basically ends up to there being nobody to borrow money from, and no one willing to give loans. When was the last time you heard of an MMO built without debt? Tabula Rasa was some $7.5 Million (or was it more?) in debt by the end. Funcom was also multiple million dollars in debt at the launch of AoC. I can't think of a single 3D MMO that has launched without massive debt.

Now, however, without anyone lending money and available credit shrinking, you have to finish up games with less money. This means cut features, fewer employees, and other cost-reducing measures to ensure that you still have a viable product. Whether or not Stargate Worlds is a viable product or not doesn't matter if they can't get the money to fund production costs.

So it may seem like a Cop-out, but they get their money from investors and banks. As an investor myself, I have to say - these are not fun times to start a company.

Obviously you don't work in banking...  banks aren't lending because of the fed or the recession, banks (who aren't lending, some are) are doing so due to a crunch in liquidity due to toxic assets (NPL and NPAs) which are eating up their capital due to write downs and write offs and provisions for loan losses due to the idiotic decisions of our government (starting back in 1999 when Clinton pushed for lower standards at FNMA and FHMLC) and the banks and mortgage companies (which are out of the game before the crap hit the fan I might add) that saw dollar signs due to that poor governmental policy who made too many loans to people who shouldn't of had them.  Add to that the charge of racism any time someone tried to fix the problem before it became the mess we have now and you wind up with this situation of the housing market crashing.

There is only one way that the fed controls lending activity and that is with the reserve rate (or how much in deposits a bank must keep based upon their deposits).  The interest rate doesn't change the amount a bank has to lend, just how many are willing to borrow, it is a demand side mechanic.

I really hope HJ gets going, it is quite honestly the only game on the horizon that I was really even remotely interested in...

EQ2 was mortally wounded when they added the Legends of Norrath, it was given a death blow with Station Cash, it is dead, SOE just doesn't want to admit it.

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by steven1966

You can keep subscribing and 'waiting' on the new content for another 6 months, or you can switch to other games that add content regularly.

I am trying to think of the games I could play that add more content...

That leaves me with EQ2. I am just not up to playing that game. It grows tiresome with the slow leveling pace and cloned quests for the various levels. I also think I am done with Elves and Dwarves, so this does not help.

As to other games..I can look at LOTRO, but they have not added new "content" since Moria, so it is going on 5 months now without any new content for those who have burned through (and it is not fun to me). WoW? No new "content" since expansion. And I have been there and done that for too long.

And no other game interests me at this time (WAR is just a bad game, L2? No WAY!, Darkfall? not even a game to me...)

I think I will wait on Age of Conan...thanks.

Actually, LotRO is adding book 7 in a patch today.  but yes, the speed at which MMOs update content seems to be slow, but I'm sure it isn't a simple process for them to do so either.  The only game I've ever known to have constant updates to content was Asheron's Call.

Originally posted by Redline65

Originally posted by ShuttleXpC

If none of you have played EQ2 since they implemented this there. Please shut up. I'll tell you why this is awesome in the game. People buy crap online, characters, items, money from other players on EVERY mmo. There is no exception. Now here is the good thing here, you do NOT have 15,000 little chinese people messaging you asking you to visit their web-page. Before they implemented this into EQ2, it was like WOW is still to this very day. You get 15 tells as soon as you log in asking you to visit their site for cheap gold. EQ2 I haven't receieved one of these since they did this. I'm not saying it totally solved the problem, but WoW's way of doing it (suing people) doesn't work, those little chinese people are back at it in 3 days time trying to sell you gold.

If this cuts even 1/4 of the little chinese bots messages I get, I love it. If you hate it, go play WoW and let the red army assault you.

How does implementing this eliminate the chinese gold farming companies from the game? Won't they just set their prices lower than whatever stuff costs through the official RMT system?
 

The theory would be it would not longer be profitable for them to engage in the behavior when people could do so legally, thus creating a larger supply, thus dropping the price.  Plus when you add in the costs for banned accounts to the gold sellers, the cost becomes more...  extreme, so eventually they'd be priced out of the system due to the expenses and the lower profit potential.  But that is only a theory and not sure it will hold up in practice, but I guess those who play VG will knwo soon enough.
 

The class structure and the complete imbalance it had in PvP.  For PvE purposes I like playing tank based caracters, yet in PvP they are pretty much completely worthless as they can't beat their way out of a paper bag with the end proped open and thus all that nice defense and mitigation becomes worthless.  No way to taunt players, no way to hold agro in PvP makes classes like the guardian basically worthless, especially after nerf and nerf and nerf to the point where a guardian couldn't kill a player 10 levels below them (granted they couldn't be killed either), unless you spec'd a certain way and made it to a certain level to get certain traits.

Add that to the clicktastic combat system that will probably be the cause of more carpel tunnel syndrome cases of any MMO and you wound up with a game that was not fun for tank classes and actually was painful to play.

Originally posted by ethion

Originally posted by Ionselon

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by Guillermo197

In games everyone is equal. If you are a poor bloke from the block... or some rich guy living in a grand villa.

It didn't matter ingame. Everyone is equal. Everyone has the same chances.

not true at all

they may be equal regarding financial income

players are NOT equal for how much time they are able to invest into the game

 

 

So, what you're saying is that players with a lot of money and not a lot of time should be on equal footing with players who have a lot of time but not a lot of money?
 

I'm not sure that all the people who use RMT do so because they don't have a lot of time to invest in the games, it's because they choose not to invest the time but want what those who do invest the time have.

Ion

 

I don't think there is anything equal about players in game because real life definitely plays a role.  I teen age person living at home not in school can easily spend every waking moment playing.  I have a job, kids and other responsibilities that restrict the amount of time I can play.  Are we really equal in game??

I spoke to someone many years ago who bought a player account for something like $1500.  It was a player I knew and I was really curious why someone would buy a max level character that was well established in game.  He said because he had lots of money and wanted to play the game but didn't have time to work his way through the levels to get to the part where he can start raiding which is what he wanted to do.  I asked if he didn't feel that he didn't know how to play the class and would be a negative to other players.  He said yeah he was aware that he needed to do some learning and was having people in game help him get up to speed. 

After thinking about it I honestly didn't see where what he was doing was really all that big a deal.  There is no equality and really what does it matter to me and my friends what somebody else does?

the difference here is taht in the current state, it isn't sanctioned by the game company, thus the general person doesn't use it.  Tell me, which would you do, sell an item crafted (which only cost you time to make) on an ingame market or the more personally rewarding RMT market?  How freely would you give gold to new players, if you knew that gold could be used to personally line your pockets through the RMT market?  RMT is a killer to a community because even though it is stated as optional, it really isn't.  It will become pervasive to the point where getting basic gear from TSers will be for real money.

It will impact the entire game, you will not be able to ignore it and it will become mandatory to be able to function in the game.  This is what $OE wants, because they will make real money on every transaction rather than nothing on in game transactions or the gold spammers.

Originally posted by Nadia

to be clear

I do not support or use RMT

 

but if you are able to give a game 80 hours a month

as opposed to someone else that can only play 40 hours a month due to having 2 jobs etc

 

there is nothing "equal" about that

I question you then.

Did both the 80 hour a month person and the 40 hour a month person start at the same point?  Did they get the same (approximate) money for kills?  Did they get the same amount for the quests they both completed?  If the person who plays 80 hours a month gets to level cap in 3 months and the 40 hour gamer gets there in 6 months, did they not both get to the same point?

Who do you think enjoys and appreciates their accomplishments more, the one who took longer to get there or the one who probably moved on to another game soon after they hit the cap?