Originally posted by Khaunshar

To be frank, you cant un-make this development anymore. Its a one-way street. Or rather, it would take so much time, and a lot of failing MMOs, messy betas and remarkably wise and selfless business decisions for the good of the industry to undo the damage done already, before people change their now-confirmed views.

Which nobody will do.

The best way to fix it is to go ahead, take the current situation, and build on it.

As an example, screw the whole "alpha, beta, open beta, closed beta, internal beta, pre-alpha" terminology, at least for your marketing purposes. Have the current style of "beta" as a free demo, which it already is, and put a lengthy ALPHA before it, where people can join in small numbers to selectively test certain features..... you know, like a beta used to be.

By re-inventing the alpha as a process open to the playerbase, you can set the rules, and test your unfinished, buggy product, without losing the hype of the beta.

Also, about marketing and hype, the problem is that very likely the interest of those putting money on the table are not long-term. They MUCH MUCH MUCH prefer, as anyone with a bit of experience in finance can tell you and probably quickly explain, a big launch, fat payday, and then get the hell out before the ship starts sinking. The shorter the wait for the pay-off, the better. Those who profit from longevity are the company itself (which is just a vehicle to get more money for most investors) and the people working there.

However, reality today demands that its virtually unavoidable to lose a lot of control over your game if you want to make a big MMORPG, simply because you need so much external funding, which comes from people with different aims.

There have been people who got rich on Age of Conan, who got rich on WAR, and who got out in time. They would do the same thing again with the next game they can jump on, most likely. These games are not failures, financially speaking, for those who got out in time.

+1 to that.

A company that manages MMO's should have a clearly defined "hype" plan for it BEFORE it starts to attract investors. The investors do not care about the company as it is, and do not care if the MMO fails, as long as it sells more then X number of copies.

By redesigning the Alpha/Beta terminology one can actually manage the hype and only release small sneakpeaks in the Alpha rather then the whole game which would contribute to the hype but not overhype it. Then, shortly before release one could test the servers load by an en-masse open Beta demo on a nearly finished product. This way the final release wouldbe tested under maximum strain.

SF
 

Originally posted by Caleveira

Originally posted by sacredfool

If i had all the dollars China gives USA for "free"* just to keep up the exchange rates i would fund all those "democracy is fail" whiners here a trip to the Chinese countryside....

*http://www.news-business.net/china-continue-to-buy-us-obligations/

 

Why would anyone want to visit a Gulag?

My point is that maybe then they would start appreciating all the luxuries the west has. It doesn't mean chinese live in a gulag but as of now the standard of living if this neo-communist state is far from what many consider acceptable.

WAR is out of the question :S

I recently took a small break from playing AoC and spent a few days playing The Witcher.  
Both have boobs so they are even there but...
IMHO, if you want a deep and meaningful game play The Witcher, the NPC's there are smarter then most AoC players. :P

Not to mention the endfight in The Witcher left me staring blankly at the screen for a good 10 seconds after it finished.

He is right about those 14 points BUT I am an AoC player as well and i can admit there is just as easy to list 14 points of  "what should AoC improve". 

For me the main downside is the lack of ideology and conflict in AoC. stygian necro's in Mitra temples and so on are ruining the feel of the game. perhaps if AoC started a Mitran crusade against stygia and disallowed stygians to walk openly all over hyboria the game would be more "immersing" in the social aspect.
 

If i had all the dollars China gives USA for "free"* just to keep up the exchange rates i would fund all those "democracy is fail" whiners here a trip to the Chinese countryside....

*http://www.news-business.net/china-continue-to-buy-us-obligations/

I expect it to be quite good on the story part, players in theory should be quite active too. Performance might f it all up though as it will be the biggest issue IMHO.

I blame the Americans! It is all their fault for being so damn touchy!

Also, why would calling someone a Jew be an insult? Are they not people like us?

Anarchy Online. You will either hate it (Hard as hell and economy is expensive) or you will love it (great guilds, helpful community and decent for a F2P game)

When i first read the link below i was thinking it's a bit crazy. Now i am so convinced it's needed.

www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/02/23/china_mounts_crusade_against_teen_internet_addiction/

The above post is so totally untrue.

Nowadays, guilds resemble of mercanary groups (eg swiss army in history).  They need new members but concentrate on fighting. They are ruled by one person but intrest is shared. I could go on for a long time but i hope most of you get the point.

PS: I completely agree with the OP in all except for #4. I think joining the guild should grant you benefits, and the stronger the guild (guild group or so) the more benefits you gain as well as the guild. I am an old Anarchy Online player, where the guilds actually controlled how much experience bonus someone is getting by fighting other sides guilds. This did make a difference, since XP differences reached nearly 20% sometimes.

Anarchy Online is nice even now when you turn every detail to max and it doesnt require the greatest PC ever. Learning curve is great gets rid of all kiddies. Just ask for support and the response is ussualy fast. It has an impossible economy curve though and if you dont get into a tribe fast you will go bancrupt trying to buy 1 ring.

If you get past the HELL of a learning and its steep curve, and manage to get into a guild with helpfull high levels: Anarchy Online (not so old, but great anyways)

Originally posted by Fion

OP your going to find almost as many different answers per reply as there are MMOGs out there.

 

Personally, best of all time? Anarchy Online, no doubt about it. My first was EQ, it had nothing on AO.

100% agree. AO is original enough and even though PvP is too much gear based it is not level locked!!! YAY it rocks in those few words. Personal favourite quest reward there: A trashcan to put in your apartment starting from a guy at the turn of a river SW of OA in a lvl 90 Dyna Camp (not sure though).

Nightfall is different to the other two you have (in a good way) but the basis stay the same so it feels like good old GW. :)

If you enjoyed the first two you will enjoy that.

lucky. I love it but cant stand it any more.

Doctor in anarchy online.

Any support that doesnt have to fight.

This game is emptier and if not the fact of many Alts of one player it would be boring as hell. I kept teaming up with the same people till level 100 where they all stoped playing and was forced to buy expansions to team. Rimor server.

I have had a similar problem trying to play AO from my home network. Basically, my PC was trying to connect to the test servers but was denied access. So it kept asking me to patch to what was not out yet, showed connection error and quit game. My problem is not solved but it sometimes starts right with no problems.

I think gear to some extent should decide on the PvP but also player skill is needed. This is why im looking forward to AoC. It doesnt seem to be as level locked as other MMORPG's.

Let me list you all the bad points i know about these that concern me from the previews:

AoC: Might prove bugged and with many flaws and spoils (eg Bunny-hopping during combat etc. ) Lag might be an issue and has big reqs. Might be great, innovative and fun!!!! but i am not pre suscribing for it. A "memorable" experiance, just like Vanguard is what i fear. Seems like a balanced PvP - PvE game (certainly less PvP based than WAR where i hear many WoW player are planning to go i dont have WoW so its just second hand info.

TR: Combat will be fun but might prove very singleplayer instead of MMO. Mostly because SFgames are not so popular (idk why i played Anarchy for  a looong time.....)  and because the game doesnt look like in the slightest forcing you to team. Might prove just as Multiplayer as GW Nightfall. This is a big point but!! else game seems good.

Hellgate: A MMOG not RPG but guarteed quality and few good hours of gameplay but i doubt A LOT it will be something to keep you busy for more than a month (if even that).