Only reason I'd want WAR to be shut down is that Mythic could resume work on IMPERATOR...

Free MMORPGs and deep... nice self-contradiction.

Just play Granado Espada (sGE). Constant updates (latest 3.0 expansion just arrived), healthy, and fun.

K2 (NA/EU) version has pretty much been ABANDONED months ago.

WAR.

Tried it right after release (2001?) and didn't like it one bit.

Came back with my bored (back then) SWG guild in 2003, played a lot in Shadowlands and RK alike and I had a BLAST. In fact, I would even say it was the best MMO experience I *ever* had. Unfortunately the people I used to play with mostly quit playing games all along, so at some point I stopped with AO.

Now I am back as a Froob, and I still love the game.

Yea, who knows if Funcom will even survive that long.

2 days ago they just confirmed mass layoffs, TenTonHammer reported something about 70% of the US Staff having been fired.

Just to confirm the current ETA for the new engine:

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Q - Is there any eta on the engine and how is it progressing?

The new engine is coming along well. We are slowly being able to strip out the work done by the old engine and soon all basic/core functions will be provided by the new engine entirely. The removal of the old engine means a complete removal of the old effects system...and the re-creation/improvement of all the effects in game. This is of course a very significant amount of pure time consuming work. At the same time work will be done to improve the look of the game where possible...things like character model alterations, new trees etc are all adding to the time required to get this done...and get this done right. We really want to take our time with this to make sure it lives up to all of our expectations. Our current goal is "Summer 2009". I'd like to promise it will be ready...but all I can really promise is that I will not release it until I am certain it looks amazing and is well optimized to ensure excellent performance on the vast majority of systems.

Source: Friday with Means - Nov 21, 2008

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The fact that it might well take yet another YEAR before the new engine goes live (we all know this is not gonna be last delay, and if they say Summer 2009 it will rather be Christmas 2009) is a bit disappointing, but then again it's nice to hear that they are now planning on improving the character models as well.

Originally they said they would only recode the engine so it would utilize modern GPUs, increasing the performance but NOT changing the looks and textures at all.

Then they stated that they were going to redo the enviromental textures as well and also released some eye candy vids/screenshots.

And now they also plan on improving character graphics - which honestly always has been my major gripe with this awesome game, and probably is needed the most.

Also the fact that they seem to have long-term visions for AO (I mean the game will already be 8 years old when they release a new engine for it) is very reassuring.

It also looks like AC, graphics/engine-wise...

So it's official, NCSoft just decided to shut down Tabula Rasa forever. Similar to Hellgate: London (by the way also hosted by EA) whose servers will  be closed in January '09.
Both games were highly anticipated while still in development, had big names in their dev teams, big companies to host 'em.
And both had very unimpressive launches, gameplay issues *very* similar to WAR (although to be sure WAR at its core probably still is a far superior game) and both hardly survived more than a year before shutting down forever.

We all know the issues WAR has. Pure boredom, lack of communication, an empty world VOID of virtually any living soul (simply because 99% of all players are bunched up in warcamps to queue up for instanced minigame-scenarios), tons of bugs/glitches, and severe population issues (first server merges/mass transfers 1 month after release are anything but glorious, and CLEARLY show that WAR has FAR less subscribers than expected by EA Mythic).

Some argue that WAR needs more time to be a great game. Others rather think that the game design is so poor that it can't be fixed (an engine that simply CANNOT handle 100vs100 battles without giving EVERYONE in the zone a 10 second delay on every action, only 2 instead of 3 factions, an endgame map layout that doesn't really encourage open RvR, mechanics that don't encourage keep defending or realm pride in general, too heavy focus on instanced PvP etc.)

But let's just assume that things *could* be fixed, and the game just needs more time. Isn't it still doubtful that a company like EA would just drop WAR all along?
It was supposed to be the WoW-killer, now it's an army of low/low servers that need to be merged. The population-trend is a steep downward-slope, the pace at which Mythic is implementing counter-measures anything but impressive. What will it be like... 1 year from now? I haven't seen any major MMO that unimpressed players at launch, dropped to a low population as a result, but then miraculously recovered to healthy numbers of players (aside from AO with its froob program, probably).

SOE would just cut down the dev team to 1-20 people and add another game to their Graveyard Of Failed MMOs, which will be funded by the Station Access MMO-socialism.
But what will EA do once revenues hardly (or not at all) excceed the costs for feeding developers and keeping servers up anymore?
I kinda fear they are not the type of company to feed a starving child.

(Hah, I just hope they will sell it to SOE as an addition to their Failyard instead of closing down servers.)

Kinda reminds me of Hellgate: London, where servers will be closed down forever in January 2009, although Tabula Rasa probably will have a few months more than HG:L.

Tough times for MMO(RPG)s. Ever since the WoW era began (which also was the beginning of more and more Asian f2p games flooding the market) I saw one MMO dying after another. Only a few could survive at healthy numbers in the long run (for example GW, because of its business model), but most struggle with low populations.

Some get shut down, others just try to survive. Just look at SOE's graveyard of failed MMOs (as somebody put it so eloquently and fitting). Vanguard, EQ1, EQ2, SWG, MxO, Planetside, PotBS... failure after failure, all pretty much dead (EQ1+2 probably being the strongest brands in the failboat... but still both severely underpopulated).

Once an MMO had a bad start, losing a huge chunk of its population right after launch, it never recovers. No matter how good the game gets afterwards, in the WoW-era you are DONE and out of the business with a bad launch. I have yet to see a game with a dying population recovering.

EQ2 is a perfect example. Very flawed game at launch, developed into one of (if not thee) best MMOs currently on the market, but the users don't and won't come back, neither can they retain their numbers. Sad.

[e] And I think that WAR might be the next victim falling to the monopoly. First server merges 1 month after launch are more than just a bad omen, and Mythic unimpressed a whole lot of people with empty worlds and 99% of the players bunching up in instanced GW-PvP-minigames...

Diablo'esque f2p MMO with item mall, extensive PvP features, and a controversal (but elaborated) ingame-bot.

Might be worth a try: http://mwo.enjoymmo.com/

Actually, you can already play, since there will be no wipe from CB to OB. But (along with a big content patch) they will open a new server on June 20th, so you can have a fresh start if you like.

Quite a powerful engine for its time, but the characters DO look plastic (ironically, the higher your settings and the better your hardware, the more plastic does everything look), and characters just look bleh.
Humans got *terrible* hairstyle choices (which basically leads to everyone looking the same, because 90% of the choices are just out of question), female humans look like they have the Down syndrome, and it became even worse with the introduction of SOGA (alternaitve) character models.
Those are the ugliest character models I have EVER seen in ANY game - and I have absolutely no control over somebody else seeing me as an anorexiac, 12 years old manga-tranny... (SOGA introduction was the reason I stopped playing EQ2 for real, only coming back every now and then.)

Also the art design (partialy limited by the engine) is bland. There is pretty much ONE armor and ONE robe geometry, reskinned a 4000 times. Well, they are supposedly working on a skeleton revamp, since right now they are not able to put new armor models (other than the single one existing since launch) into the game, because the nature of the limited engine requires to create a complete armor geometry for every race/gender combo in the game (which is like what... 40?).

Seeing the art design of armors and environment in games like Guild Wars always made me wanna cry.

Anyway, despite its blandness I am glad that there are still a few MMORPGs out there without that horrible manganime look almost every MMO seems to have.
And despite my gripes with the EQ2 engine, the generic character development with hardly any room for customization (every player of class X and level Y basically has exactly the same attributes and skills, AAs and items being the only way for at least some individualization) the game itself is probably the best PvE MMO currently available. (The PvP server[s] was a LOT of fun as well, but is pretty much dead by now... bummer, really.)

[e]Oh, and I agree that EQ2 has pretty much the best UI ever made. Actually you can customize every pixel of it. All praise eq2interface.com

Just discovered this game (http://mwo.enjoymmo.com), where Closed Beta II just started. It is, however, a de-facto Open Beta, since everyone can apply and there won't be any more character wipes (i.e. you can use your CBII characters in the release version).


The graphics look somewhat like Diablo 2 or Lineage I (isometric, rendered 2D) but more detailed. The game is f2p with an item mall, and has some really interesting features:

1. A legal ingame "bot" system:
The first game that introduced this kind of "afk gameplay" was Granado Espada. However, in MWO you got a very detailed (but easy-to-use) "bot interface".
You can determine when to use which kind of potion, what kind of items to pick up, what level ranges and types of monsters to auto attack, at which number of monsters to use AOE skills, determine moving routes, and even auto sell items once your backpack is full.
If you die, you will automatically start running back to your grind spot.

Speaking of which: Yes, the game is a grindfest. However, it doesn't feel that tedious, since you don't have to sit in front of your comp all day like a king-of-nolife.
Of course, playing manually is more effective (and afking too long will quickly make you outlevel your spot).
I was very sceptical when I read about that system, but now I don't wanna miss it. Can do whatever I like, do work, go out with my GF, sleep for 8 hours... while my char grinds on. (And yes, I still have a feeling of accomplishment afterwards.)

Communication among players is still existent. But I honestly wonder what it will be like in a few months, with everyone botting. Just a GE déjà-vu...


2. PK, RvR, Guild Wars and Siege PvP
Haven't tried it, but this game featues all of it (which is quite an incentive for all the grind-botting).
For starters, you select one of two factions (Dynasty or Empire). Unfortunately the game still lacks some solid documentation, and you don't really know much more about these two factions than their names. And the look of their starting territories - Dynasty starting some greeny grass lands, Empire in a Desert.
You can openly attack players from the other faction, but only gain honor points for kills within a +/-10 range. You can also attack your own people, but after a while this will get you into jail (where you have to fight a lot of monsters to get free).
There are also safe zones where no PvP is allowed (basically the starter areas of both factions).
Not sure if it is possible to unflag yourself from PvP, but I think it is (via "Peace Mode").

I don't know how exactly the Country vs. Country (RvR-type PvP) or the Guild Wars work. Basically, because the server is still quite new, and there's not a lot of high levels around.
But at least it sounds promising.


3. Other cool features

There's no real character customization at creation, but later on you can at least change hair styles and color at an NPC.
You can build houses, Guild Halls and for more advances guilds even some huge "mobile fortress".
Or two characters can marry each other to gain special boosts and perks.


4. The Skinny

So far, it seems to be quite elaborated and polished game (although homepage content and documentation could be better...), relaxing to play, since I don't have to sit in front of my monitor all day, looks great and gives me hope for some epic RvR and siege battles.

No idea if it's any good in the long run - which will depend on how fair the item mall is (currently not possible to buy "Platinum" for the cash shop), how class and faction balancing is, and how fun the PvP actually is.
Gonna report back in a few, I guess.

Just noticed that Fury is f2p now, wanted to create an account but apparently I need a key for that.

Unfortunately it seems like either the keys are all out at the moment, or there never have been any or I simply can't find 'em.

Anyone knows if just going to be f2p soon, was but no longer is f2p, or anything else?

[e]okay, found my "answer" here: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/thread/166353