"That’s right. Do a barrel roll, baby."

I fu#&ing LOL'd soooo hard at that one. Epic!

Great review, maskedweasel. Only thing I'm wondering about is your crash to desktop / lock-up issues. I've been playing since the beta and have played on 3 different computers ranging from low to high-end, and the only time I ever had a crash was on my low-end laptop. The graphics were just too busy for the graphics processor. I've never had a crash to desktop or other lock-up on either of my desktop computers. The only exception was a couple of times when the server crashed, which brought me to the login screen, but that's not a hardware issue, of course.

Best of luck to you. I hope you continue to enjoy the game. Look me up on AntiProduct any time.

Originally posted by ZoeMcCloskey

Originally posted by TheMaelstrom

Originally posted by ZoeMcCloskey

Originally posted by Mechanism

They suspended the trial because of server issues I believe but they do plan to start it back up.

I am the queen of impatience, hehe

Might just have to get it trial or not :P

If you pick it up, add AntiProduct to your friends list in-game (you can view your friends list by pressing F3). I'll be happy to give you pointers or run some PvE missions with you when I'm online.

I'm still having a blast with GA after playing since closed beta. I've never been a fan of FPS games, but GA has somehow pulled me in and kept me entertained. The new 10-man raid content is freaking hella fun, especially when you're the only medic. :)

I dove in and all I do is the PvP scenarios and the quests in the desert, hehe.  It is an amazingly fun game if they bring up the MMO elements so that the world is far bigger, then wowwww.  I will add you to my list but I tend to solo and PUG mostly, hehe.  But I do need to try the PvE sometime, just not sure it will happen as the PvP is amazingly good fun.

Glad you're enjoying it. Hope to hear from you in-game.

Keep in mind if you plan on crafting upgrades for yourself you will have to run PvE missions (raids or 4-man) to collect the materials.

Originally posted by Scot

The fact that the game throws balance to the wind is worrying. Certainly one template will not suit all the game play roles needed, but is that enough to maintain balance? The ability to change your template ad hoc has serious consequences; are there no time delay or location restrictions? I can see this being useful in grouping though.

 

There was a suggestion that in pvp battlegrounds, disproportionate faction size would be balanced by the addition of npc’s. This is innovative idea, interesting to see how it pans out. You will have those who say it takes away the feeling of achievement if you can’t truly beat your opponents; on the other hand we have all been in pointless battles where we had no chance of winning.

 

I think you're misinterpreting the interview a bit, Scot. The way Hartsman addressed balance didn't sound to me like he was saying they're "throwing balance to the wind". To me it sounds more like they're recognizing that mix/maxers will always find a build that's more "optimal", and some people will change their build to mimic the optimal build, and they're okay with that.

I've already been looking forward to this game (since it was known as Heroes of Telara), and the fact that they said outright they're not going to try for overall balance is encouraging to me. Why? Because I believe when there are imbalanced builds/classes that you get people who play their character because that's what they ENJOY playing, not because it's the most uber. And the people who enjoy playing are the ones I want to group with / be guilded with.

I played EQ1 for 6 years. I played a warrior. Without a healer I was worthless, essentially. I also had an alt enchanter (strictly crowd control class). The warrior was completely gimped when it came to doing anything at all solo, but I filled a role for groups that I really enjoyed. It made the game so much more immersive and I enjoyed my time playing it immensely. People on my server knew me by name, knew I was a good tank, and I got regular invites any time I was LFG.

Did it bug me that a druid could quad-kite a bunch of mobs and soak up XP like crazy - while solo? Nope. Good for them. They figured out a way to play solo. I prefer to play in groups of people who all enjoy their class and play it well. I think the whole idea of "balance" is ridiculous. It's a pipe dream.

In my opinion, here's what you gotta do if you're gonna say "We're not gonna balance everything."..... make EVERY class fun to play. If every class is fun to play, then balance won't be as big of an issue because people will enjoy playing their character regardless of how awesome someone else's character / build is.

Originally posted by jayanti

With your general way of thinking - EverQuest 1 is a WoW clone.

But seriously - if you were making a game, had hundreds of people to employ, offices to run, servers and computers to buy and maintain, and you had to pay for this for a few years before even selling one copy - are you going to talk in the press about how "Its very exclusive, only WH40K hardcore players are going to like it" or are you going to try and stimulate some interest amongst the 14 million paying Warcraft subscribers in the hope of snagging 8% of them at launch and recouping your costs?

Cos lets be honest - the hardcore WH40K people are going to try it anyway, its those who dont know about he needs to sell it to. 

A well-thought-out and concise comment that makes excellent business sense. Too bad the people filling this thread with "wow clone" crap won't understand the (very valid) point you're making.

Regardless, my hat's off to you!

Originally posted by Warmaker

Originally posted by TheMaelstrom

If you're really confident that your game has enough of "the hook" to keep players logging in, you'll say/do whatever you need to to drive box sales and have faith that the subs will come as a result of your hard work/innovation/story/game design, etc.

Rely on good 'ol spin first and foremost, eh?

Worry about box sales first and subs last?  Heheh, that worked out real well for some of the big name MMOs in the last few years.  STO started strong and now they've been greatly diminished.  WAR also started strong.  Lots of people at the start, but that bled off.

But nothing beats AoC.  AoC easily had a s**tload of people at the beginning that it was ridiculous.  "Box sales" driven by the immense hype, previews, interviews, etc. leading to the release.  And they failed to live up to their end of the bargain, i.e. having even a half-decent MMORPG at launch.

So many MMORPGs in recent years have been touted as the next big thing, or worse, the "WoW Killer."  Yet once players actually see for themselves what the REAL deal is, they'll leave.  Subscriptions will not stick.  Again, the titles I mentioned are a few examples that came readily in mind with big initial box sales but couldn't retain players due to a variety of reasons.

Seriously... you didn't even read my post, did you? The FIRST FREAKIN' LINE that you quoted says it all. I didn't say anything about relying on box sales first and subs last. I said the exact opposite of that.

Originally posted by TheMaelstrom

If you're really confident that your game has enough of "the hook" to keep players logging in, you'll say/do whatever you need to to drive box sales <snip>

Buying the box doesn't keep players logging in. Having an awesome game does. How could you quote my post to make your point and then try to argue against a point I didn't even make? Seriously... I'm baffled.

Damn you guys are quick to condemn. I might not care about all the games on the list, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna attack the columnist.

Did you ever think that the author may have talked it over with his co-workers, friends, family, etc. and come up with this list? In that case, his use of the term "we" is perfectly legitimate.

Think of it this way: How could any writer ever write an article called "5 Games You Want To Know More About" and please everyone? Simple answer - he can't.

You guys need to get over yourselves and grow up.

When I read the very last paragraph of this article, all I could think of was Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Wasted potential... I wish things had been different for that game.

Originally posted by ZoeMcCloskey

Originally posted by Mechanism

They suspended the trial because of server issues I believe but they do plan to start it back up.

I am the queen of impatience, hehe

Might just have to get it trial or not :P

If you pick it up, add AntiProduct to your friends list in-game (you can view your friends list by pressing F3). I'll be happy to give you pointers or run some PvE missions with you when I'm online.

I'm still having a blast with GA after playing since closed beta. I've never been a fan of FPS games, but GA has somehow pulled me in and kept me entertained. The new 10-man raid content is freaking hella fun, especially when you're the only medic. :)

Looks like a mix between Tokyo and Vegas to me.

Originally posted by Agricola1

OK what's your medic speciality of choice? I use the Nanite restoration system as I'm a bit of a ninja medic, it gives me range and makes me less visible. Personally I believe the nanite gun is very much under estimated and has a bad name. Sure it's not as good on a single target but I can heal multiple targets at once and boost their power regen.

This is a subject that has been done to death on the official forums as well. Personally, I'm a "play how you enjoy playing" type of guy. That being said, I think most people enjoy winning, and using the nanite gun won't get you a win unless your team has other dedicated healers using biofeedback.

I'm not just talking trash. I've tried using nanites in pvp. All they do is get you assists. They don't keep anyone alive if they're taking any significant amount of fire.

Here's a link to the offical forums where this topic is hotly debated regularly:

http://forum.globalagendagame.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=160&t=20072

Haven't read all the replies, but here is my 2 cents:

I'm disappointed that there doesn't *appear* to be much innovation in the game.

I cannot be disappointed in the game itself until I have played it after launch. I've tested many games that I thought were awful, but thanks to competent devs listening to feedback they grew nicely throughout beta and were great at launch.

The best example I can think of is WoW. It was AWFUL for a good portion of the Friends and Family Alpha. It got better, but early closed beta was also pretty bad. By the time it launched, it obviously had what it took to appeal to a massive audience. I don't like what it's become since then, but that's an example of what I mean.

Originally posted by banshe13

wow WTF are they retard's 5 to 10$ sure and even thats bad but 55$ just make a new guild and reinvite people and keep the old one up for the people that where not online.

 

It's not as easy as that. EQ2 has a really robust guild leveling system. If you've had a guild for a couple of years and have leveled it, built guild halls, etc etc etc, just disbanding a re-inviting isn't really an option unless you're willing to trash everyone's efforts to move the guild forward since it's inception.

Originally posted by Stradden

Don't put words in my mouth Bob, I said that people should be prepared to walk away and to write a well thought out letter or email about it. I never said don't tell them why you're leaving, i said don't be loud and rude and fly off the handle.

Sometimes I wonder if you purposely take what I say out of context.

To be (somewhat) fair, I think a lot of people can read an article and still miss the real context of it. It's not the same as having a conversation with someone face to face.

That being said, I think your article was exceptionally well-done, and in my opinion the context was crystal clear. Some people just like starting fires. Hehe.

Originally posted by Edli

C'mon guys, why so surprised? When I saw the trailers it looked more like an wow expansion. I guess some got blinded from the tittle and the armors. 

Ridiculous troll is ridiculous.

WoW looks like Warhammer, not the other way around. Now that Warhammer is finally making it's own 40k MMO, you can't pull the "WH40K looks like WoW" b.s. Remember who stole their IP concepts from whom. You've got it backwards, son.

I think people are going way overboard on this one. It's like you're all drama queens, waiting to pounce.

I'm a pretty successful businessman, and I can tell you this much: It makes perfect sense for this guy to say their game is an easy transition for WoW players, even if that's not the case at all. Say what you have to in order to get box sales. Worry about subscriptions later.

If you're really confident that your game has enough of "the hook" to keep players logging in, you'll say/do whatever you need to to drive box sales and have faith that the subs will come as a result of your hard work/innovation/story/game design, etc.

C'mon, Justin... cough up the name of a couple "dogs" and "dross" MMOs you played at E3. If they're that bad, we deserve a heads-up so we can avoid them.

Have they confirmed an early 2011 release date? This article was the first mention of a release date I've read anywhere.

Originally posted by cyrana

Here's another one, 8.5 minutes long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLBYiTQnnuY

Nice video! Thanks cyrana!

Thanks for posting the video.

I noticed the mount looked like a rhino, kinda. Neat looking, and I'm certainly over the whole horse / wolf thing.

Also, they mention the Shadowlands being a realm between life and death. I wonder if that means it's the very early game before you become an Ascended Soul, or if it's a realm you're trapped in if your character "dies" during gameplay.

Last but certainly not least, I FREAKING LOVE the draw distance. Sheesh. Seems like you can see for miles in RIFT. Well done!