I'm not sure if a wild west MMO would work by itself, like other poster's have mentioned it would be limited by the time period setting.  Now if you throw in an IP which allows magic, supernatural etc it would have possibilities. The first IP which came to mind was the Jerusalem man (Jon Shannow)/Bloodstone books from David Gemmell (RIP).  the IP would give a type of wild west theme but set in a post-apocalyptic world which allows the use of magic etc.

Just a quick reply regarding the channel switching.

In the last little update at the end of OB the devs changed the way you can switch channels.  You still access it the same way, but they have stopped people having access to the 10 channels of the bat.  Now a channel will only open when the ones before it reach a certain population point. I'm not sure why the change, but it is most likely to stop people killing the boss mobs and changing channels to rinse and repeat.

I'm not one to beg,    but if someone could spare a beta key and PM me it, it would be greatly appreciated.

I do not think Aion will be the success has mentioned on these boards.  I can only speak for the EU(UK) market, so far Aion is travelling well below the radar, no advertisements, no features, previews in the big PC games magazines or online sites. Compare that with AoC and WAR and the WoW, LOTRO expansions you would get regular updates on the progress upto the release.  A couple of months before release you would get big features (monthly in the mags) telling you about these games. I know only of Aion due to reading these boards, none of my friends know anything about it.  Just my opinion but Aion will be lucky to reach half the amount of box sales compared with WAR and AoC at release (UK).  Hopefully word of mouth will increase the games subs over the long term and the euro game sites and mags pick the game up and give it some much needed press.

Just one more thing.  To the people who state that Aion should have the best MMO launch in the western market for the last few years, I agree.  If it don't the devs need a good slapping.  You cannot compare launchs like LOTRO, WoW, WAR and AoC etc to Aions launch, it's been released in Asia for nearly a year, most of the normal launch problems and bugs should have been sorted in that time.  In that time it should be in a polished and nearly bug free state.  Lastly I do hope the game is a success.  Myself I'm going to wait a few weeks after launch before I decide to buy it, I've been burnt a few times these last few years rushing to buy a MMO on launch day.

My advice m8 is to roll a character on the Seradon US server.  When I played, I played on Seradon and had no trouble finding groups etc.  In general I found the population better around UK peak times on Seradon than I did on Halgar (Disclaimer: This was in the last part of last year). Another bit of advice when you leave the newbie island don't go to Kojan, start of with either Threstra or Qalia (please excuse spelling) due to the population being better in these areas.

Originally posted by Korgana

Nice list, I probably would have added Black Isle Studios when the team was with Interplay.

100% agree.  I love to see them reform to make a Planescape Torment MMO.

I'll only play it if it has a tea drinking game.

Originally posted by Darth_Osor

Eh nice gesture I guess if you're an altoholic like me.  I wouldn't pay $15 for one character slot, though.  Maybe 4 slots so I could have one character of each class.

I agree. 15 EUR for 1 char slot is a bit steep;  I would expect at least a couple for that price, but a nice gesture for the games vets.

I've returned, been playing for around a month after cancelling shortly after the game launched.  On Fury (EU pvp) server the ganking and griefing gets worse (IMO) once you leave Tortage. Loads of the sneaky bugger's camping the rez pads, hiding in rooms with quest giver's waiting for you to engage the NPC's to turn in quests. Loads of gankers hiding in quest areas waiting for you to engage mobs before striking. 

PvP in AoC is a frustrating business all due to the stupid PvP system which makes everyone cattle for the slaughter due to being walking pvp exp which is needed for the long grind for the pvp gear. Due to the pvp exp you are getting alot of players grinding the exp on Tortage because pvp levels are independent to your character's normal level.  You can max your pvp levels in Tortage if you have the desire to do so. 

The level cap for Tortage is level 25.  Whitesands is not to bad once you past the first rez pad on the beach and  past the first main pict camp. Most players are to busy fighting each other around the rez pad to be bothered to venture further in the zone.  I have to admit Whitesands is great fun, most players are around the same level grinding on each other to gather the pvp exp, it's just unfortunate that it's right next to the zone entrance which causes players questing to get caught up in the cross fire.

Underhalls is a nightmare during the peak hours, it's gankers heaven due to areas being serperated by doors and loading screens.  I don't know why FC serperated Underhalls, it was one large zone during beta.  I've lost count how many times I've loaded different areas to find myself dead. Questing is impossible unless you are lucky to jump into a instance without many people.  Basically Underhalls is a tamer version of the game once you leave Tortage.

Another problem is the murder system, IMO this stops the players from being able to police the servers themselves.  The respectable players do not want the murder points and to be listed a criminal.  Unfortunately the gank squads don't care about the murder system, it doesn't stop them from gaining pvp exp.

My advice for anyone joining AoC is to role on a pve server until FC can pull there fingers out of their arse and sort the pvp system out.  You still will have the pvp mini games, Borderlands and sieges to get your pvp fix.  AoC is a good game, it would be a shame to give it a miss. Here is the links to the pvp section on the offical forums, which will tell you what I have mentioned, plus much worse stuff.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10

http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10

Originally posted by Aramanu

yeah i remember them, i think there was another guy to from a few years ago who was also cool, can't remember his name, but i remember once at the front of the mag it had there pictures and what games they are playing at the time etc, well this time it was "what are you getting for xmas" and he put down, " an ounce of weed".

Made me lol.

 

but your right ed is rubbish, always has been always will be.

Sounds like something Charlie Brooker would do.

Ed is a terrible reviewer.  I cannot comment on his review for DF, I haven't played the game and have no intention to do so.  I'm a regular reader of PCZone and have suffered Ed for the last couple of years.  Thankfully he has left the mag, but unfortunately he still turns up now and again as a freelancer.  I still remember his review for PotBS for PCZone.  He spent two pages trashing the game and didn't once in his whole review mention the PvP, the core of the game.  PCZone had some great heritage in there MMO reviewers.  We had great reviewers like Chris Anderson, Paul Presley, Richie Shoemaker (Sci-Fi) and Rhianna Pratchett (Terry's daughter) and unfortunately Ed Zitron is sub par compared to them.  I'm sure most of you will be going who the hell are these people but hopefully some of the old PCZone readers will remember them.

IMO VG's graphics are one of the best in MMO's, but I agree graphics are in the eye of the beholder. Below is some screenies, not the best out there and my settings are one below the max settings.

Vanguard is not a dead game. IMO it is one notch above The Matrix and Planetside.  Vanguard at present is just filler for SOE's station access.  Vanguard has around 4 to 5 devs working on it so if you are expecting regular major updates you will be waiting a long time.

PoTA will be released soon, part of it is on test so there is something to look forward to, but the problem that will arise shortly after PoTA when alot of players have reached the new level 55 endcap is all they have to look forward to is endless runs of PoTA. until more content is released, which like I stated you will mostly likely have long periods of time between each content release.  IMHO the VG devs have messed up upping the endcap because you won't be able to get to mix PoTA up with APW due to it most likely will be trival by the time you finish PoTA.

Another thing to remember SOE will not invest any resources into the game, they do not care for the game, they have new babies taking all of their attention, VG and it's community are lucky to be spared an after thought. I get frustrated that SOE will not release the potential in this game.  The above is not a bash, the devs are trying to work miracles trying to keep everyone happy with their limited resources.  If SOE invested the resources into VG fixed the bugs which have been present since release, give it a coat of polish, revamp some of the major areas like they did with Khal (why their stopped beggers belief) and relaunch the game with an advertising campaign I could see the fortunes of the game turned around. 

At present it has a top notch community and one of the best PvE experiences/class design's on the market (IMHO).  If you can look pass the bugs (none are what I would call game breaking) and are not to bothered about the end game or just looking for something to play whilst waiting for the next big title I would recommend VG due to the massive amounts of content provided on the journey to end cap.  As long as you stay in the popular areas/quest lines to begin with, population issues will not be a problem.  Once you have a good friends list or guild going of the beaten track to explore the less popular areas will not be problem.

Sorry OP but Live Gamer is dead in the water at present concerning VG. There's hardly any items/characters for sale and only a few plat auctions have any bids.  Here is a link for the VG auction site below.

https://exchange.livegamer.com/vanguard/

I'm big enough to admit I was wrong on the effects Live Gamer would have on VG and I was one of the first to speak out against it's implementation in VG.

IMO Warhammer is one of most boring MMO's I've played.  Great to begin with but over time progresses to an endless numb skulling keep grind with lacklustre PvE as a side attraction. Would I like to see the game closed down, my answer is no.  People are paying their subs and enjoying the game. 

Originally posted by NeverLand7

Originally posted by econ24

Free Realms has microtransactions along with the subscription.  It also has 2 separate trading card games, an ingame and offline version, that requires you to buy card packs.  It's coming from SOE, they have always been one of the greediest game developers out there.  Just look at all of the expansions SOE has released for Everquest 1 and 2 over the years.  For awhile there they were putting out 2 expansions every year for Everquest!!!  Everquest 2 has twice as many expansions as WoW does in the same amount of time, and I don't think you can say that Everquest 2 has twice the content that WoW does.  Look at SOE games currently, some have the regular $15 per month subscriptions AND microtransactions.  Other games survive with just 1 of these methods.  Most other MMO developers also release a good amount of free content every few months.  It's like SOE is charging twice as much for the same amount of content.

Free Realms does look pretty neat though, too bad it's being made by SOE.

 

I missed that it is using a cash shop aswell. That's what I thought it was at first and then I noticed the monthly sub they have now and I thought no way could there be a cash shop aswell so I just dropped the idea but indeed there is one after some looking around on the website. Well that is somewhat dissapointing to be honest , hopefully it is inexpensive and nothing more than fluff items. The game doesn't sound very competition based so I don't really think the cashshop will have too big of a influence on the community tbh. It seems more like a game based around having fun than reaching x lvl or getting x gear. So I'm still looking forward to it =)

Also Free Realms will have Live Gamer RMT (i.e. cash, characters, items etc) as well.

Monthly sub (optional)+Cash Shop+RMT = SOE one greedy bunch of b*******

Free Realms is SOE's attempts to fleece every last cent of family's with young children.

Edit Link to Live Gamer http://livegamer.com/page_en/news.php?section=1&page=205&fromhome=1

Free Realms is a kids game, it's not a serious MMO.  The advertisement is aimed at children.  Look at the promo video below.

http://www.freerealms.com/whatIsFreeRealms.vm

Originally posted by boojiboy

Originally posted by wolvie3131

 dont forget to snag a Slappy McCool whistle while on the isle so you can thoroughly annoy everyone afterwards with a random /slappy dance :P

I enjoyed the Isle personally as I had been away from the game since its bad beta/ begining

it was a fresh start and now I make all my alts (confirmed Alt-a-holic) on the Isle.

 

!!!  I just leveled a sorcerer to 10 on the Isle and did every single adventuring, diplomatic and crafting quest.  Took me about a month and somehow I forgot about Slappy.  Where does one get that?

I maybe wrong, it's been a while.  In one of the Hobgoblin camps you can see Slappy dancing surrounded by loads of non kos Hobgoblins dancing.  You can parley with them and once you have won a few parleys you get the Slappy skill.

At present I would roll any alt on Isle of Dawn. IoD gives your character a great head start when it comes to any of the 3 spheres in terms of equipment and quests available and also population.  It's a shame the starter areas are full of lore and starter dungeons to explore, they just need a re vamp regarding quest rewards and crafting and dipo quests.  If you are just interested in adventuring and not concerned about population you may find the old starter areas rewarding.

Originally posted by ivan50265

SOE won't go F2P as it will take one game away from the graveyard of games that currently populate the Station Pass. 

I agree and also they want people to use these type of (RMT) sevices and still cough up the monthly sub.