I have a friend that works for their QA department, worry tells me he's likely one of the unlucky ones :(

I did have a chance to beta the game and found it fun, just not enough to keep me hooked or to buy into it...it will be interesting to see what they do with the IP in the least.

I have to say I've never seen an article on this site I disagree more profoundly with.  Many legitimate counter points have been stated and actually feel bad for even replying, like I took the bait.

I'll agree with others, stick to MMORPG posts please and I pray 'bobby bucks' had nothing to do with this one.

Originally posted by dzoni87

 

Every single game gets old. No game can hold an interest forever.

While maybe true in a poetic 'of the moment sense' for some, I would beg to differ vastly.  Every game gets old.  Every game loses some interest, but some games do hold some folk's interest forever.  Doesn't mean they will play it every day, maybe just once a year or even every few years, but some, occasional interest is interest nonetheless :)

In reference to GW2 though, I can see it not holding my interest for long - but being worth the cost.  Odd for a game not even out, but with MMO experience comes rationalization? acceptance? 'old man syndrome' ? who knows, but there will be interest to be had regardless.

Originally posted by spookydom

Originally posted by HorrorScope

How does the NDA work? Media is allowed to talk about last weekends beta, but others are not? Just wondering. I have some opinions myself, but cannot share. Thanks.

 

I have some strong opinions I would like to share as well. But I think we have to keep quiet until the NDA is lifted.

QFT.  I guess the lucky ones get to wait a bit...or maybe till April 11th?  Fun thread to read though, cheers.

Heres my sentence:

"Devs which lack eloquence in PR, coupled with a long wait and high budget lead to a change in mood."

EA/Bioware seems to have alot of "open mouth & insert foot" moments, happening in higher frequency as of late.  Now the question isn't whether you agree or not with what they are saying, mentioning, or comparing to...the issue is the more info gained w/o hands on experience, the more negative the mood will get for your game.  Add to it a long dev cycle and the highest budget of all time...you set the bar high, which keeps going up the more crap you mention or compare to.

I say the devs should be quiet, get a beta out sooner rather than later, and enjoy the quick guaranteed profits...especially if they 'truely' only need 500k subs.  Regardless they will get my $ though /sigh.

Good article, though I'm not too keen on the housings necessity to be in open world (unless its purpose was solely to merch / barter).

But we all know (unfortunately) this is toward the bottom of a game's design list, if at all and will most likely never be as robust as we'd like.  Cheers to hoping though :)

It's sad and a bit ironic just how pitiful SOE is sometimes...

We all see these threads every few months, with dozens of differing ppl saying "i love the game" or "i would sub", very little negativity.  Yet in their infinite wisdom they don't see this as a few thousand ppl at least worth shoving a small dev team toward giving the game content?

Someone should copy & paste names and comments of folks over the years saying the same thing, and email it to every public relation / pres / media / anyone they can find @ SOE and just be like "really guys? more money - want some?"

It's incompetence, coupled with old stigmas, bad management, crappy PR, the list goes on...as does the game (somehow) - it's really something that will be looked at in the annals of MMOs with a giant question mark.

I will be, for 3 months...in wait of games to come later.  Riding the wave of zerging fun while it lasts :)

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Now if that is not complex, what is?

I would say FFXI is, as the fellow stated.  I've raided in WoW for over 4 years and being a top raider is not difficult and takes not too much extra effort, unless you want to be top 1%...but it still doesn't hold a candle to the complexity of Classically modeled mmos:  FFXI, EQ, AC, etc...

My thoughts on your points:

1.) Classic model.  Exp penalties, perminent penalties, etc...have been tried over & over again, and if you plan to hook a large audience they do not work for casual players.  Personally I wish nothing happened, but immersion is low on my priority list.

2.) To eaches own.  Skill grinds are just another type of grind and how much / many you want to have, also has to do with how much you enjoy the fact they exist.  Some people play for solely gear & social aspects, others for immersion...so assuming you come from the later camp & I come from the former, I'll throw a curve ball & say I agree...more skills should still be around.

3.) This point I agree with, though with far less fervour.  PLing has basically become an mmo staple, ruining all but end game content for most, or for the small few who put forth the extra effort to attempt to experience the content w/o the ease of burning through it.

4.) This point I agree with whole heartily.  I hit level 20 in GW and just had no impedus to play any longer; though I will say the amount of end game content can also make up for a lack in a drawn out leveling curve.

5.) I'm sorry but I 100% disagree with this.  Trains & swarms of mobs endlessly following, regardless of "realism" or immersion...is just not needed.  Leashing not only helps performance, but also gives you a 'flee' option similar to console games of old.  It may take away from the experience for some, but for those who enjoy "fighting to the death" every single mob, they can simply pretend the mob doesnt leash and do so...there are plenty of mob spawns that trains are no longer necessary (if they ever were).

Overall this post seemed like a "everything should be like the old days" post, reading similar to experiences I had in EQ, AC & FFXI.  But at the end of the day, games evolve and the genre has gotten more open to a larger playerbase...so alot of these are for the hardcore only & AAA titles should not develop for niches.  I welcome changes and for those who like all of the above 5, stick to old MMOs and maybe hope one day they will re-release them w/ updated graphics...or continue the trend of progression servers, so that design ideaology will live on (somewhat).  So really the 5 things aren't wrong, just different - get with the times or play the games of old :)

More similar to the Rifts were the Naxx invasion events years ago (of course much more limited, but definitely alike).

 I don't believe you will see such a thing in WoW, as it doesn't fit too excessively well in the game model (at least to me).  If anything you might see its idea brought into Titan or a future expansion - but not in a patch anytime soon.  And as a player of both games, I can say I'm having quite a bit more fun in Rift...but we'll see what happens in the next few months.

Excellent post.  Been wondering what was happening with the game & if it was still on track for a Q4 release; also glad to see its still F2P all around.

Any chance hearings of when the beta will start up?  Haven't heard much on that front in a long time, besides just the signups...

/sigh

It's not..but I've had similar discussions with RL friends on occasion.  The expansion you've had most fun / success in, will be the one you find the best.  BC is superior to Cata for me and most who weren't the best in vanilla, but cleared sunwell.  Unless you are really big on some thing specific to a given expansion, the 'most fun / success is best' should hold true.

To eaches own, but OP is tired of the people liking the older days?  Tell that to SOE and its new progression servers, those who used to run level capped guilds, etc etc...the content was fun then and could be fun now, its just the game that is forced to move on - people don't need to if they don't want to.

Great post...but I'm still not digging the style completely :(

At least with threads like this and the upcoming beta (one day) I'll draw a better conclusion later :)

It's most likely that they ran out on their marketing budget in NA/Europe and hope that the news trickles down...

I'd say in time you will see more or in the future, but ftm they've are probably done with their budget.

A fun list, though for the 1st time ever I number 3 is wrong...I got the name I wanted, 1st try.  I am still astounded.

The last point is a good one, though it should also include those who DO hit the forums (instead of inside the game) and QQ to get a refund, how they wasted $, etc...

So far the worst was opening night, being a several hour queue...but since I've had on average 20-35 min ones during heavy playtimes (on Keenblade).  Some servers are still a few hours long...which is to be expected with servers which large fan sites have chosen, etc...

Overall the server stability and their downtime / response is quite good, far better than my previous launch experiences.  Kudos to Trion on a much cleaner release than expected.

Hmmm...I'm subbing to Rift, while subbed to WoW - does it mean I'm really subbing to a double dosing of waterred down EQ?  Then again applying logical syllogisms to MMOs and especially in a transitive way, is never a good idea - just hurts the brain.

See all you new Rift / WoW / Warhammer / Etc... folks Thur :)

I'll most likely play both...but D3 is definitely an ARPG, not an MMO.