Originally posted by GreenWidow

Originally posted by Comnitus

Just reading this thread, this game will have it rough no matter what they do. We're all very picky fans, aren't we?

 

Lore that goes back to 1988.  Heck yeah we're picky fans!!  I was old enough to appreciate the lore back then.  I'm crotchety now and don't want them abusing the lore I've grown to love in my adulthood.

I bet more than half the people on these forums were "born" around the time Warhammer 40k started up.  Keep in mind the fantasy side had been going for a while when they chose to start up the space version.

They have a serious set of shoes to fill. 

Mythic failed miserably and made me lose all respect for a company, up until WAR that, I actually liked.

Picky was also the trekkie fans and look what happened to their game. Ive been snooping around though and i hear the dev team is going to try and keep it sacred as much as possible, however Ive heard that line before for other IPs. I have to see the end product to make a call but I will never get hyped again over any good IP thats turned into a MMO again.

What I miss the most about a a lot of older RPGs was the puzzles that involved a little thinking to solve. One game in particular for its way it did puzzles was the Tomb Raider series, which I loved a lot as a kid. I could see this type of gameplay in a MMO, grant that once someone goes through it there will be a spoiler on how to tackle it, but it would give anyone a chance to try their own hand at it or look over a guide for it. Then again for some puzzles it could be set up in a way that the dungeon is randomly generated and the puzzle twisted in a sense to keep form having a spoiler guide for it.

Aside from that, There needs to be a lot of interactiveness with environments itself. Theres a new game I think in Korea called ArchMage? that uses destructible environments. Not sure to what extent they use them, but I could see destructible environments used in a number of ways in a MMO where puzzles are concerned. Destructible or even constructable environments would greatly help MMOs today from the boredem they face now.

Ok so puzzles and destruct/construct environments, what else could there be? What about more mini style games? Just like the old RPGs where doing smaller games to complete a task would be great to see in more MMOs today. Anything from trying to ski down a mountain with a huge snowball following you or jumping on the back of a mob and riding him through a section of forest with the baddies on your tail, figuring out a encrypted puzzle with a timer ticking down to doomsday if you dont get it solved in time, to just about anything your imagination can construct. Hell even opening Casino style games within a MMO would give players something to do when the questing grind is too much, or when your waiting on friends for a raid. These casino style games could offer up many rewards for the risk you take with in game gold at a chance to win a assortment of prizes.

This are just a few things i can think of atm, but MMOs as a whole these days just simply suck, suck, suck, suck. I have yet to see any real good triple A titles that offer anything different that the last one did. I think Scott hit the nail on the head about his article where art is sacrificed for profits and huge publishers are mainly to blame. To be honest, if there isnt a surge soon of more MMOs that uses the ideas I had given for example, I think Im done with MMOs till someone does decide to step up and start revolutionizing the industry again. Im hoping more Indy developers step up and be able to fill those gaps. If so, ill support them knowing that keeping a huge publisher out of the picture may start the process of true artistry again in the industry!

If your ready to start a revolution Scott, then I, and I assume thousands of others, are right behind ya man! Lead on, lead strong!

Ditto, great article and I too have these problems still to this day.

Wanted to add too that when I did find a really, really, great guild with like minded people, I generally started to hate the game we played and couldnt get the others to try anything else, even though they also hated the game to some degree. I think it had a lot to do with having invested that much time and money into the game and hard for them to leave. Its never hard for me to leave no matter how bad ass my toon is!

As Danabus said about Mytheon but include how Wizard 101 does their card based style game, it could possibly be a magnificent bastard child to make MTG a possible MMO with many ways to play.

Bill did a fine job of explaining how great Allods "USED" to be! This game is no more when patches v1.6 and 1.7 hit the EU and NA publisher Gpotato. No matter what GP spins about the original team is still working on Allods, they do not appear to be by the latest news I had uncovered!

Nival (the original team) struck a deal with Astrum entertainment and became Astrum Nival. The game was going forward as planned under this brand till Mail.RU steps in. Mail.RU buys up Astrum Nival. Nival broke away from Mail.RU and began work on a new MMORTS called Prime World. On Nivals site in the about section (to the left of main page) they go into a small history about Nival as a whole, explaining how Astrum and Nival formed and then being bought up by Mail.RU.

They said with intensity on their site that they had a MINORITY INTEREST in Astrum and Mail.ru projects! This lead a lot of people to believe a falling out may have occurred and the work on the new game Prime World began under the brand Nival Interactive. Feb. 24th 2010 on Nivals website they had released nfo that Mail.RU had 100% control of Astrum Nival, while at the same time on their about page they had taken out ALL history leading Nival to Astrum and Mail.RU OFF the website!

It almost seems like they are distancing themselves completely now away from Mail.RU since the bad press of patch v1.7 hit and GPs introduction to a insanely overpriced item mall.

 Onto the Patches of doom....

I wont go into much here but I will tell you this, the game will be solely centered around CS between levels 20 and endgame content exclusively. If you would like to know what will put the nail in the coffin for this wonderful and inspiring game, go here to see a history of how the game changed within a matter of a few months....

translate.google.com/translate    Patch Notes V1.7

translate.google.com/translate    Patch Notes v1.6.22

translate.google.com/translate   Patch Notes v1.6.15

translate.google.com/translate   Patch Notes v1.5.28

Allods had a award winning opening that caused the game to be over pop on all 7 servers during its initial run in CB phases and partial OB. The servers began to decline after patch 1.5 seeing the population run at 50-60% server pop. The servers are now at 20-25% server pop since the release of patch v1.7. A LOT of Russian players are now finding refuge in the EU and NA servers for Allods as they have stated the game is all but dead and that no one is able to afford the game breaking elements of CS any longer. Whats bad is these patches are in the works and on their way to the EU and NA clients.

GP has already gotten a lot of bad press for the insane prices set for Allods CS. Backlash was so harsh they are now saying they will try to work something out. I dont expect those prices to be any cheaper myself as I have been playing GP games for the past 5 years. This is the first GP game where the mechanics center solely around the CS, you dont pay, you dont play, period!

It also makes me wonder if GP knows whats in store for the game and maybe trying to get back as much money as they can on the over priced CS, before the rest of the community drys up? Speculation of course, but a possibility. In short the patches are coming and the game, some say, will die out before it even hits release.

You dont fail at Russian MMO, Russian MMO fails you!

Originally posted by Gorilla

 The thing to do is play on the Russian servers. Prices on the whole are Ok there.

Prices maybe "OK" but they have now killed the game with the current patch. You will not WANT to buy anything but rather NEED to buy almost everything if you plan to play this game after level 20 to cap! Do some research and see what the new patch has done to the game to make it even more CS dependent than ever! Russian prices are great if you live outside of Russia, but try to afford this game working in Russia on a russian salary, almost impossible. The servers there has lost 50% pop now and declining (http://www.allods.ru/ scroll down while looking at right hand side of screen, youll see the servers list), which says something about the game as a whole since the new patch hit.

First i wanted to say thanks Scott for putting this in the lime light. But I want to make a few points to others here about the game, its publisher and its so called developers.

Scott hit the nail on the head with how GP does business, its not only disconnected from its playerbase but they just dont give a rats ass how they make their money, period! This is the first game thats gotten them so much bad press they may never recover from it as they have been getting away with this type of pricing throughout all their games. Can they change? Sure, they need to fire a hell of a lot of people there starting with the CM who I assume is part of the marketing team due to the recent PR posts to the community. Then I would move over to the marketing team as well as management. Replace them with people who understand the industry and who play games themselves! The GMs I feel in this game are the only ones who has went to bat for us, the community, but they have little power to change anything.

As for Astrum Nival, Astrum Nival is no more! Nival is the true developer of this game and for whatever reasons had struck a deal with Astrum entertainment to help move the game forward. The company was then titled Astrum Nival. Mail.ru comes along and buys up Astrum Nival. On Nivals main site they say they had MINORITY INTER$EST in Astrum Nival which was soon taken out of the about page to the left on their site entirely, and then they posted today that Mail.RU owns 100% of Astrum Nival. From my understanding Mail.RU is a pretty greedy company.

Nival it seems has disconnected themselves from Mail.RU and is working on a new title called Prime World, a MMORTS. Now with Mail.RU at the helm they are killing the game as fast as it was made, maybe even faster! The patch notes released for Allods in RU (v1.6 and 1.7) is a death note! Do a little snooping and you will see how Mail.RU is destroying what could have been one of the best F2Ps on this planet to date! I think GP knows this game is sinking and they were trying to make as much off the game as possible before it sinks, but it backfired and now a lot of people are not only boycotting the CS theyre boycotting the game entirely! GP is to blame for the outrageous prices but lets not forget whose actually killing the game, and thats Mail.RU!

Originally posted by GamerAeon

Originally posted by AmbushMartyr

"We will pick up development where PI left off." That right there told me the game will be further developed by the marketing department to convert gameplay into CS items, and a lot of them, throw it out there and see if anyone takes the bait!

Thats what happened to Allods online, and I dont see much of a difference here with this game myself! Could I be wrong, sure, but as it looks without the original coding team to further the game, they will bring in people to adjust existing code to revolve around a heavy CS and then slap it on the community to see who will bite. Buyer beware I say!

 

They're kinda doing similar with The Chronicles of Spellborn as well

But that game was already eligible for Cash Shop status given the fact the only way to pay the sub to it once upon a time was with Acclaim Coins.

Oh yeah true GamerAeon. I remember when that fell through. To bad for that game, it had potential as well!

While the hype machine churns out what appears to be pretty damn good reading for the most part, I hope FC is churning out a game that will not only amaze but put to rest that indeed originality isnt dead in the MMO industry!

But time will tell and Im not getting any of my hopes up, yet. They want my money they will have to bring solid, solid gameplay and mechanics that keep me interested for a long time to come, and a finished polished product at launch. Otherwise, Im not gonna bother.

"We will pick up development where PI left off." That right there told me the game will be further developed by the marketing department to convert gameplay into CS items, and a lot of them, throw it out there and see if anyone takes the bait!

Thats what happened to Allods online, and I dont see much of a difference here with this game myself! Could I be wrong, sure, but as it looks without the original coding team to further the game, they will bring in people to adjust existing code to revolve around a heavy CS and then slap it on the community to see who will bite. Buyer beware I say!

My guess is this, just like what is happening to Allods will happen to this IP possibly. Theyll take it and use a skeleton crew to fix a few things, introduce a Cash Shop and fuddle a lot of the mechanics to revolve around the CS, then set it out there for any Publisher to license while hosting it themselves. In turn they will try to make theyre money back in the shortest amount of time by having outrageous CS prices, and mechanics which will force you to buy from the expensive CS. Im not saying this WILL happen, but this is looking like the scenario that could possibly play out like Allods.

in short, a possibility that a great title will be forced to work the streets while the pimp gets mad paid! "Wheres my money MMHO!"

Astrum Nival fleeces GP and in return GP tries to fleece their player base. Sounds about right to me.

Originally posted by Valario

hmmm....i though the cash shop was optional?....i'm enjoying the game without buying anything....

Yeah your enjoying it now, wait till patches 1.6 and 1.7 hit! Then it wont matter how much the items will cost but a matter of NEEDING them. Not to mention NEEDING even more of them than before!

Originally posted by peebee929

Originally posted by drbaltazar

the chronicle of spellborn!

 

What he said.

Serious? The devs went belly up, that game is in limbo and if you think GP is bad I wouldnt put much faith in Acclaim either! The game looks great, interesting concepts, sometimes its hard to target and fight at times, but its a sitting duck without a dev team!

Originally posted by drbaltazar

it is f2p !STOP TRYING TO MAKE IT PAY2PLAY!ITS NOT!just because the options are avail doent mean you have to get them !you dont!if you dont like the game fine dont like the game!but dont blame the cash shop lol!its is not mandatory !i repeat

IT IS NOT MANDATORY TO BUY CHASH SHOP ITEM!

Ok so CS isnt needed, but if no one buys anything how long do you think the game servers will stay on? Buy a clue, unless you think thats not needed too?

Maybe you need to forward this article over to Gpotato`s CM, cause god knows shes part of the marketing team and does a great job of political spin! Ask anyone who just got the word tonight that the prices for Allods CS is final! ($20 for 6 extra slots of bagspace for starters!) If this trend keeps up F2P model will die out from greed!

Originally posted by Freefaller

Allods is heavily pvp based and the item shop has major affect on pvp play. Just another niche game for those that like to play with their wallets.

Agree 101 % Played Allods from CB1 till now (CB4) - lvl 40 char (max). You can play a F2P game first 2 zones, then it slowly grows in a masked P2P, via Item shop.

The marvelous reviews for Allods Online are just pro-active marketing. They don't match at all with reality or players expectations (see RU, NA or EU forums).

 

Have to agree to some extent. I think the Devs really screwed the pooch with the whole mess revolving around FoD/Flagging/Banners and the infamous OP Perfumes. They have a real chance to change a lot about this game before its too late, but i got a feeling itll just be another "Runes Of Pay To Win."

I will however give them a chance (3-4 months) to address the issue. If they refuse to take it out, or at least compromise then Ill just play for free till the wheels fall off or the mechanic in question aggravates me enough Ill just toss it to the side and wait for the next F2P that will come along in a couple of months.

All I can say is Drool, Drool, Droooooool!