So proof was given and some of you are still trying to say that it's a lie.  What does it matter that they are all standing around?  What do you think happens in a city?  Banking, buying and selling wares, talking to friends, binding keys, adjusting sound and video settings and going AFK - among other things.  So yeah, that's what happens in a city.

I still think the game looks like EQ, but slightly better.  That, and their designers must all be randomly placing buildings around everywhere.  Nothing looks like it's supposed to be there. 

Compare TERA and MO graphically.  Now that's what you can do with the Unreal 3 engine.  The MO designers have absolutely no skill.  Their lack of artistic talent takes any and all immersion that MO had out of it.  Hell, you could probably do more with Minecraft.  It's quite sad.

But yes, the population seems to still be very low, though, maybe a little bit better than I expected.

Ah, so we are now calling a steady decline in general over the past 3 years a 'natural fluctuation'.

Call the spade, a spade.  It's in decline and there isn't much Blizzard can do about it.  They'll still have more subs than any other MMO for a long time as well.  So it's not like WoW is going anywhere soon.  They will launch in 3rd world countries if they have to in order to keep bringing in money.  They know that the western audience is quickly dying.

Titan will be revelealed next year.

Originally posted by Kaynos1972

man i'm looking at this picture and if you remove the UI it's World of Warcraft.  Do i want to play YET another WOW clone ?  Hell NO.

Troll much?

Except that the graphics far surpass WoW's graphics, the map is completely different, the combat is significantly different and the character avatars aren't even remoitely similar.  Use your eyes much?

Small development team.. blah blah

Not much money.. blah blah

Haven't advertised.. blah blah

Where have we all heard this before?

Do you gauge success on 'not failing'?

Two years after launch and it's still unstable and not worthy of being promoted to the mainstream?

A company that didn't send a ton of boxed copies to their paying customers, a GM saying people will be compensated for it, and then that 'promise' vanishes from the forums?

Henrik, the King of Liers, can he do anything right?

The AI patch will fix it?  How many times have we seen the 'Patch to Fix All' fail to do what it's supposed to?

Seriously.  Are you paid by SV?  I've seen the same excuses from people like you for years now.  This has turned into a cult following.  You are no longer fans.  You've ascended into pure zealotry.  Blind to all but the uberlord Henrik. 

I did enjoy a lot of the ideas before launch.  The UO concept is one that has worked and is still working to this day.  It's the lack of execution and implementation that has ruined it for most of us.  The amount of lies and insults hurled from the deverlopers to it's own community.  The shady business tactics such as promised goods not arriving, double charges, and stories about the hell people had to go through to deal with their CC and banks just to get away from the festering diseased grasp of SV.  The bugs, glitches, crashes, and complete lack of talent on a programming and design standpoint.  Yes, I loved the idea.  I played UO for a good five years and MO has nearly killed the experience for me.  It's unfortunate too, because SV will probably not be able to bring respectability back to their brand.  First impressions can kill.  Life support is not what I consider success.

No wonder deverlopers don't want to take a chance.  Games like MO ruin the market for future sandbox titles.

Originally posted by Theonenoni

If you havent played it already I suggest you dont ever and dont throw away $60.   Linear story (you have to select a quest before you even start a server). Feels just like torchlight, which in my opinion is worse than D2.  The skill system is horrific. You feel restricted in combat.  You unlock more skills than you can actually use in battle. They should have stuck with the old skill tree system. The skill tree is one of those things RPGs should have never gotten away from. 

 

Finally Blizzard dropped the ball this time when they took so long on making a game.

There really is no big deal with choosing a 'quest' before you start a server.  You're complaining over nothing.

So, we shouldn't buy a good game because YOU didn't like a skill system that I actually kinda like? 

Try harder...

Originally posted by MMOExposed

So many of you complain about MMO's now days having fast leveling. But you refuse to play Asian MMO because of the slow level grind.

I am kind of confused about this. the community that ask for these slow leveling MMO, simply wont play Asian MMO which have a much slower leveling pace, because of the fact it has a slow leveling pace.

so what is it, you really want?
L2-----> Aion
AoC had a grind early on. but people complained... again,, what is it you want from the leveling speed? Is there a balance of being too fast and too slow? if so, what is this perfect standard?

It has less to do with the fact that Asian MMO's generally have a slower leveling pace and more to do with the fact that most US/EU players don't like the Asian style/culture in those games.

Most of us don't like swords bigger than our body, Panda Bears, Cat people, super bright colors, blocky and overdramatic art styles, and things that are synonymous with the Asian culture.

I'm sure that there are some games out there made in the eastern market that have successfully been transitioned to the western market.  The problem with those games though, is that they are simply not that good.  So we are stuck here, moaning and groaning, waiting for another one to appeal to us.

I personally think that the act of leveling is the main problem.  When you attach a number value to how strong a progressed character will be, of course the natural reaction of your community is going to find the fastest possible way to obtain that value.  When you take it away and add social aspects, in-depth crafting, non-progressional activities, housing, guild structure, territory control, risk and reward, and a reason to do such things, the player focuses more on the journey to whatever ends that they are looking for.  They do this, rather than fixing their focus on an arbitrary number that really shouldn't be important to begin with. 

Generally, games offer too little of a grind (2-3 weeks) or too much of a grind (1-2 years)..  There needs to be a something in-between, with enough content to lose ourselves in for hours that really won't even progress our characters.  I had a house in Ultima Online way back when, and I often spent hours decorating it.  I spent hours running through the world, looking for good house vendors that I can mark my runes to.  I spent several hours at a time peddling my wares or offering my crafting services in large city hubs like Britain.  I spent hours sailing around in my boat, fishing and cooking food for adventurers.  Then comes the PvE, as there were dozens of locations for every strength of characters all over the world.  Or just people watching in town, it never failed to offer a good laugh as some thief failed their steal check and get's guard whacked.  I could go on and on, but that's not really what you guys want to hear.  It shouldn't be about obtaining max level, it should be about having fun on your way to end progression.  You didn't have to have all of your skills anywhere close to being maxed out to kill a powerful players.  But mostly, it wasn't all about killing people.  The games should support multiple play styles, and it shouldn't encourage the hardcore crowrd to skip the majority of the game.  These developers allow players to blow through content in several weeks.  They need to be held accountable.

Originally posted by Venger

Not enough time to comment on everything but I'll comment on risk vs reward area.  The only time UO had high risk was when you were first starting out and you didn't have spare gear or money to buy replacement.  Once you were established loosing what you were wearing and what you have gather so far was not really a big deal.  As far as UO being a success part of that is because there were no other options back then.  Don't get me wrong I love UO to this day but when EQ released there was such a mass exodus.  UO success IMHO was more about what it offered, you could be a cook, a fisherman, a blacksmith.

You are both right and wrong.  UO was one of only a few options during it's peak.  However, EQ didn't kill it due to it being better.  People left for EQ mostly because it was the first mainstream 3D MMO.  It was revolutionary to the genre, and because of that, a lot of players jumped ship.

UO is still alive and kickign after nearly 15 years.  There's not much you can knock when it comes to that game.

I also wanted to comment on the risk vs reward thing.  UO had that all the way up to being a 7x GM.  Just because you were almighty and powerful, didn't mean that you enjoyed dying and having to replace gear.  Just like if I was rich, it doesn't mean I would enjoy getting robbed just because I have plenty of money to replaced the things that I lost.  Sure, it would be a much bigger hit if I didn't have the money to do so, but it still doesn't mean I didn't care if it happened.  To me, dying is a big deal, it's a sense of pride that I have. 

There hasn't been a sandbox to offer what UO offered back then.  It's not a surprise to me that there hasn't been another successful fantasy sandbox since then.  They had some great ideas, and some less than great ideas, but the world that they created far surpasses any that I've been in since then. 

Also to the OP.  Don't use game terms to describe your ideas.  There are many of us that have not played AC or EVE, so using their terms is like speaking a foreign language to us. 

Gotta love people who can't see the big picture or know how things work when recording a game.  You need to lower the settings when running fraps and such, as it will skip and lag a lot if you don't.  Also, you don't even know what graphics settings these videos are on do you?  Any of you?  No, didn't think so. 

It's made with Cryengine 3, the most graphically enhanced engine for MMO's currently out there.  Way to know what you're talking about, I'm pointing my finger at people who say the graphics are 'so-so'.  You can talk about style all you want, but you can't knock this game for using the most powerful graphics engine out there.  That, in my opinion, seems very ignorant.

Also, it's funny to see people mentioning how the siege system is dumbed down and messy.  This, after watching a very short clip where you can't really see much other than a mob of people and a few catapults, some people apparently think that seeing that makes them experts on the game and the mechanics of the siege system within it.  How many of you have seen the settings in this game?  How do any of you know that group health and damage can't be turned off to only show your own?  Who's to say that this siege was done by an organized group?  It clearly wasn't by the videos, but a the same time, none of us know exactly what was going on unless we were there.  Maybe the leaders were simply disorganized.  How is that a fault of the game?  Absolutely hillarious. 

And just to touch on the night lighting.  Dark nights in games such as MO just doesn't work.  Most people do not want to play games where they can't see.  Most developers do not want to promote players all hanging out in cities at night.  Adding a low light system would push away subs, make it hard on the servers because of player clusters, and piss people off in general.  It's a better idea to make it dark, but not too dark that you can't go out and do what you want to do.  That's something I never understood about sandboxes.  Sandboxes are supposed to be about doing what you want, when you want, how you want to.  Yet developers since UO have added a low lighting system that goes against the very core concepts of what a sandbox is supposed to be.  Yeah, let's make players near blind during large portions of the game.  As if the full loot, FFA PvP wasn't bad enough, now they are going to play blind.  Fun stuff.  Really.

Go walk into the wood at night if you want realistic lighting.  This is a game where players are supposed to have fun.  Sometimes you have to sacrifice realism for the sake of everyone else playing the game.

Originally posted by Caldrin

Sadly AAA companies are after the big money, and maknig WoW clones seems to be the way to do it at the moment.

 

People who want anything different have to put their faith in Indie companies.. and sadly they are usually low budget and full of bugs..

Unfortunately they have failed at every turn to make a WoW clone.  They manage to keep 100k players or so and call it a success.  Ultima Online back in it's day, as well as SGW had upwards to 300k subscriptions.  Back then, that's similar to WoW numbers if you scale it up based on market size.  These companies continue to think that it's just not worth the risk, when I feel that it shouldn't be hard at all to attract 100k subscriptions for a well done sandbox.  EVE has managed to do it in a less desired sci-fi setting, and they weren't considered a AAA developer.. and still may not be for that matter.

Some of you fail to understand the OP.  It's something that most people do because they are too fixed on the word sandbox and what they think it means.  Sandbox in one word means this, Opportunity.  It gives you the opportunity to do what you want.  What the OP is saying is that there is nothing wrong with providing the players opportunity to do something.  If Blizzard decided to add a housing instance in certain areas around their universe, they would be praised for it.  So many people would proclaim Blizzard as geniuses.  Yet, when people like myself suggest adding it in some form to a game, I get insulted and shunned.  How would adding housing hurt a game?  It's a legitimate time sink, it also opens up the opportunity for players to craft and sell furniture with a new profession.  Some of you would be amazed wheat a creative player could do while designing their home. 

Why not add some territory control?  It doesn't have to negatively affect players who do not want to participate in it.  Those areas can be secluded to a point, and people will adjust if they aren't.  Players can still partake in arena PvP, instanced dungeons and small skirmishes around PvP hotspots.  The developers would just be giving reason to attack the other faction instead of being able to just because it's hardcoded in the system.  You could add faction wide bonuses for holding a certain amount of points.  You could add guild bonuses for a guild holding a point.  How could this be a bad thing as long as it's not intrusive to the casual player who isn't interested?

Why can't developers throw some inns and taverns into cities and add buff bonuses for going in and staying for a few minutes?  How would that affect the game in a negative manner?  It would bring people together, you'd have people dancing around and talking to each other.  You'd have NPC's selling ale and mead, players throwing money away to drink and see the affects of it.  Perhaps even giving them a bonus to experience gained for an hour if you stay in there for a few minutes.  It's not something that is forced on you by any means, but if you wish to partkae, there are reasons other than just being social to make you want to do it.

Why can't you add interesting locations to the map that have no real reason to be explored other than the fact that it's unknown and could be cool?  Not everything has to be tied to a quest.  On the same note, sandboxes can have quests too similar to something like Skyrim.  If you're not interested in collecting things or adventuring, no one is forcing you.  However, the developers would just be adding an opportunity to the players to do so if they wished.

Why can't players throw down their own shops in the open world?  You can still have auction houses, the price will be a little more expensive, but you can still travel to that players house for a discount.  Not to mention, along the way, you can find other really good shops where players decided that they didn't want to be listed on the auction house.  Maybe it's a guild that likes to show off what they have.  How would that hurt the game?  Fact is, it wouldn't.

I think so many people are so defensive about their game that they refuse any idea at all without even thinking about it because they feel it is an attack on the quality of that game.  This is what I've been trying to get through to people for a while now.  The simple addition of a non-intrusive system should not alter your game experience in your beloved game.  It will however make other players more interested due to the addition of these systems.  If you don't like it, don't do it.  But refusing the opportunity for others to enjoy themselves more is ignorant in my opinion and only hurts the developers and the current players of that game.  Why wouldn't you want more players in your game?  It really doesn't make any sense if you think about it.  And as long as that added system isn't causing big issues and it fits what the game is about, why not? 

It's like taking your car to a dealer and they tell you that you're their 100,000th customer and they offer you a free keyless entry system.  You turn around and tell them no, you like your car the way it is.  Nevermind that you don't have a keyless entry system and it's actually a very useful thing to have.

[mod edit] People like what they like.

Originally posted by Dolomighty

*Takes a deep breath*

Hello all. I'm the artist on this new Sword of Tears event thread, Dolomite and I've done some of the other art for the Gms as well... tried to register as Dolomite here but I'll have to settle for Dolomighty!

I've played MO for about a little over a year, completely solo, completely carebear, and I love it to death. I have a miner/extractor/tamer, a weaponsmith, an amorsmith, a hunter, a cook, and a butcher/fisherman. I was really on the verge of quitting PC games altogether, whether MMO or not before I found Mortal, and then I was completely hooked again. Its a great game and its getting better all the time. The problems I encounter don't bother me because I know what I want, and its to have this sort of experience in my game: a big open world, no direction, no restrictions, do what you want. That's fun for me. Being given an endless series of quests used to be more rewarding, but now I get to set my own goals, do in-game chores that I myself deem worthwhile, explore, travel, or even just sit back and enjoy my virtual homeland with its swaying trees, passing clouds, flowing rivers, and occasional frolicking naked mages trying to kill everything in sight (I know its perverse – I don't care.) Really I think people need to relax and appreciate what they have – to do these things before they get twisted up and ranting about what other people are doing with the game; falling into that mental rut of dividing the player base up into opposing camps of red versus blue, one guild versus another, players versus the Gms etc... We're all part of the same community, and whether you're a lowly cook or a mighty warrior there are going to be things out of your control and people that you do not agree with. Playing a sandbox game means that you're free to do what you want – I don't understand how this freedom seems to be continually conflated into an expectation that you're going to get your way, and to get your way every time.

Unlike most games, but not unlike old pen-and-paper games, the Gms in mortal are going to role-play your adversaries. Just like say a game of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons you can expect certain players to whine that the creature the dungeon master threw out is too powerful, that the puzzle he presented is too difficult, that the premise of his adventure is thin, that the rewards weren't worth the risk etc...

This sort of behavior is all very poor sportsmanship, indeed it concerns me that anyone would play the game if these things were distracting them that much from enjoying their play time. These complaints do not sound like they're from someone 'at play,' they sound like they're from a person so twisted up inside they've forgotten how to 'play' – as if they needed more of the same sort of stress and seriousness and agony they might find in their working or studying life in their game life as well. Its supposed to be an escape, but a lot of people haul their baggage with them everywhere and never unpack it. Like any form of entertainment, a good deal of your ability to enjoy the game is going to involve suspending your disbelief, putting aside your criticism, and having the courage to keep an open mind. Let me stress the 'courage' part of that statement. It takes courage to enjoy it.

What I see going on here I would describe with the following childhood analogy: a father (the gm) plays a game of catch with his son (the player.) They throw the ball back and forth a few times and everything is swell, but then by accident the child gets hit square on the nose. The child then runs to every other home in the neighborhood and says that his father beats him, points to his bloody nose, and demands to every sympathetic ear that his dad be put in prison for child abuse.

The Gms of Mortal help you guys 100s of times everyday, but whenever they do something you don't agree with you turn on them like a swarm of angry bees. Might I suggest that if you don't like the events that you simply not participate in them instead of wasting your emotions on ranting about them?

Its easy to go off about what you don't want – its much tougher to put into positive words that which you DO want. Do you really even know what you want? Let them see that put into words and you'll be surprised how much they do in fact listen to you all.

 

Thank you that is all.

 

-Dolomite.

Maybe the guys over at SV shouldn't have taken my money and never gave me a box.  Maybe there shouldn't have been numerous account problems while attempting to pre-order said box.  Maybe the game should be remotely close to release quality after what, two years?  You guys wonder why people are so critical and jump so quickly on the bandwagon of haters.  Take a step back and look in the mirror.  You don't have mirrors in Sweden or something?

I love how you added that it takes courage to play and enjoy a game like MO.  Even designers realize that it's like swallowing your own vomit at times.  I'm an outsider, so my opinion may be skewed, but a second event happening due to a hacker deleting or banking the item was the fault of SV to begin with.  Regaurdless, instead of attacking us here, why don't you try to explain a backstory or piece of lore that would creatively support the sword coming back into play due to a failed GM event?  If there is such information, post it instead of being immature.

This is the same PR shinanigans that gave them such a bad reputation (among other things) to begin with.  Try to be professional SV.  Try to resist your urges to be children and act like the businessmen and women that you are supposed to be.

Originally posted by Kost

So nobody noticed that February is mispelled on that signage in Best Buy?

Paying attention is pro.

I was about to post this, among other things wrong with the sign.  It's clearly a fake. 

Come now Kost, you know most of these people can't be bothered with 'paying attention' =P

Originally posted by adam_nox

I really don't find those graphics all that impressive.  Maybe it's the style, maybe it's the lack of realistic lighting effects, not sure, maybe even the animations, but I see nothing special.  Better than TOR? lol not saying much...

Dude, how do you get around?  Do you have one of those seeing-eye dogs?

I feel really sorry for people out there that lose their sight.  I'd imagine it's worse to lose your sight than to be born that way.  Someone should put together a Cryengine vs Hero Engine comparison in Braille.  I think it would be a wonderful learning experience for you Adam.

Wait a minute... How are you reading this?  I'm confused...

Originally posted by Puuk

UO. How can you not have that on your list?

Because he probably doesn't have a clue what UO is.  That's the harsh realization that us classic MMORPG'ers have to come to.  Things are different now.

Mine was UO as well.  If the game was updated with current technology, I'd probably still be playing it.

Originally posted by Cameo3

 

---

Originally posted by Jakdstripper
because WoW is, hands down the most, succesful and pupular mmo to date.
you dont' have any DOACdetxo.com websites. you do not have EQdetox.com websites but you do have WoWdetox.com.
that's how incredibly addictive and popular WoW has been in the past. it was so pupular and so addicting that people actually made a website to help each others quit the game. that's pretty insane if you think about it, and even more insane are some of the stories you read on that website.  
 
no other game has ever reached such a huge and devoted fan base yet, and that is why WoW is the ruler by which every other mmo is eventually mesured by.  
 

---

 

But what is it measured to. I've mostly seen three things: graphics quality, end game and pvp.

Earlier I wasn't sure if this person was trolling.. but now I'm almost positive with this response. 

Simple.  It's the most successful and familar MMO to ever exist.  Games are compared to it because nearly everyone is familiar with all of the features of WoW.

I honestly like crafting to be more involved in the game economy.  It should drive the economy.  The problem with themeparks is that there are so many other ways to obtain items, and the majority of which do not involve crafting.  And in most cases, the items you can craft are not as good as the items obtained from alternate methods.  I don't think either way is inherently bad, I just feel that there is a system for each type of game.  Mixing them would be a difficult thing to do.

If there was a sandbox made correctly, that wasn't destroyed by the PvP elitist community, crafting may become more popular.  This would force the mainstreams hand in making it a more integral part of the game.  However, that's not the reality.  Mainstream themeparks have no legitimate reason to alter what is working for them.  Even if a lot of people think it's lame to begin with.

Originally posted by TsaboHavoc

Full loot PvP + Permadeath = solution

 

If you Pk one ppl and somebody else kills you  in the next  8 hours PERMADEATH, Risk / Reward.....

 

 

ok, It doesnt need to be so harsh but something that makes the sheep safe and at same time give the options to Pvpers/griefers do their stuff at a very high risk.

While that is a solution, I'm not so sure it's the best one.  It would definitely give murderers some pause before making a decision that could render their character useless.

I have some ideas. 

Any sandboxer worth their salt knows about the allignment system.  They know about 'murderer towns' or 'lawless towns'.  They know about stat loss or jail time.  Whether we've partaken in criminal exploits or not, we are well aware of what the punishments are in most sandboxes.

I feel that if you make all NPC cities, 'kill on sight' for murderers, that it would help.  This is pretty standard in sandboxes though.  I feel that there should also be roaming gaurd patrols as well.  Not just randomly out in the wilderness, but within a moderate vicinity of the protected city.  Darkfall had some towers that were somewhat effective at times, and I feel that this should be included as well.  What I don't want to see are just loads of static gaurds or 'insta-kill' gaurds popping out of thin air.  Let's make it more like a maze for a criminal to get anywhere near a NPC city at all.  We already know that they've stated that these cities will be safe zones anyways. 

Let's also do what almost all other sandbox MMO's don't do, eliminate 'lawless' cities.  There should be no NPC cities that allow safe harbor for criminals.  Don't you think we as players, or the factions in the game, would eliminate those threats?  With the ability to build cities and empires as players, it should be the king or lords duty of that empire to decide whether or not they want to allow safe passage, shelter, and supplies to these people.  These cities should be able to be defended in a similar fashion with gaurds and towers, including players as well.  If you allow it, it should be clearly marked on your map that this empire promotes illegal activity.  There should also be a penalty for that as well.  Perhaps something in the form of reduced tax rates, reduces resource gathering and a 24 hour seige window that never closes.  It should be very difficult to remain a strong empire and openly betray the innocent.  These empires will have to be more subtle with their dealings, thus making them weaker.

Murderers should not be able to own holdings within cities, unless that city is deemed a full-on murderous empire.  This will open up attack by any non-murderous empire in the game.  Murderers should not be able to bank either, since they can't gain access to a city with a bank unless it's labeled a murderous city amd that city has the appropriate upgrades to have a city bank  This bank should be able to be looted if the city is sieged and razed.  They can't use gates that take them to innocent locations.  This will make their movement a little easier to predict.  Without mounts, it will make travelling and sneaking up on people a little harder.  Thus protecting the innocent. 

There should definitely be stat loss as well.  Not just resurrection sickness, but partial stat loss depending on your murder count.  Let's not use the five kill murder status.  Let's make it three.  If you kill three people within a four hour window, let's assume that you meant to do it.  You can work two of those counts off each hour.  However, if you work up to three, it takes a full eight hours in game to work it off.  You will also remain a murderer until your very last count is removed.  Which means, you need to play a full twenty-four hours to work it off and become innocent again.  If you die as a murderer, you lose 2% of your primary stats (but none of your secondary).  So if you have five murder counts, you'll lose 10% of your primary stats.  If you have 50 murder counts, it may as well be perma-death, because you will lose 100% of your primary stats.  Also, if you are a murderer, you not only lose items from your inventory upon death, but you lose everything that you are carrying whether it is equipped or not.

I have not seen a murder system like the one I've described.  I have also not seen a MMO balance 'wolves' and 'sheep' efficiently.  While this does not eliminate the ability for murderers to exist or be successful, it certainly makes it very difficult to do so.  So difficult, that if you're not careful, you will incur a temp-death on your character and you'll have to start your progression over again.  If you have a strong criminal guild and friends to back you, a place to store your goods and a place to buy, sell, and trade, you may be able to hack it.  Just remember that your empire could be destroyed in the middle of the night and you may wake up with nothing left.  You better have more friends.  It shouldn't be easy though.  To every murderer, there should be 100 innocents. 

I think these ideas will go a long way in allowing a ratio like that.  Do you guys have any ideas?

What do you guys think about a detective/tracker type profession that gives general locations of nearby murderers?  Even movement will be hard if you have many active trackers around the map.  Maybe you'll see 'red' slayer guilds that serve only one purpose, to kill murderers.

Sovrath, I think we get your point.  Though, with your novel-like offerings, I feel that your point may be getting rather vague to a lot of people...

The problem with it is that the gear you have equipped does not get looted in this game.  It simply takes damage and can be repaired numerous times until it finally breaks.  So yes, you can take your epic purples out and actually use them without having the fear of getting them looted from your corpse.  The only reason you'll need to bank more often is to reduce the loss of profit you'll take by waiting far too long and getting killed by someone.  I'm sure you understand this.  But again, it should be repeated, you will only lose inventory items. 

And of course the items have value.  Even vendor trash items have value in gold.  Perhaps armor and weapons can be broken down or smelted into craftable resources.  Cloth turned into bandages.  Weeds, herbs, and flowers turned into alchemy potions.  So on and so forth.  The inventory items are valuable because they can be used to your advantage.  Maybe you'll get lucky and happen upon a magic item that was looted in their current haul of hunts.  The full loot isn't the issue, it never has been, and never will be.  It's the encouragement to kill by most developers.  Even if they didn't initially mean it as encouragement.

I feel that with a 3rd person, tab-targetting system with groups, avoiding combat will be a lot easier than you think.  It will be the same as AoC or WoW.  In fact, it will be similar to any game where you have an enemy.  The only difference is that people will have a little more incentive to kill you.  being able to see your attacker from a distance and use an invisibility spell or potion could be a life saver.  Combat will be more familiar to the average gamer, giving them a better chance to fight back.  The character progression is said to be fairly short, meaing there aren't huge gaps in character strength.  The weapons and armour will not have massive gaps of strength between them as well.  There will be crowd control to help you escape from unhealthy situations.  I haven't read anything about how they are going to handle murderers though, and I feel this is a make or break system for them.  I have yet to see a PK system that is harsh enough on murderous folk.  It's always too easy and the game eventually devolves into a bunch of murderers, murdering each other.  If they can avoid that issue that has plagued these games since their inception, then I could see it actually gaining some traction in the mainstream MMO community.

I'm hoping they have some good ideas.