All Posts by Zippy

Interesting they removed the cap.  That means most likely we will see many people hit level 80 before the 3 day headstart ends and before the game is actually released.

Originally posted by Wharg0ul

They think what they see is representative of the final build. Always makes me laugh.

 

The last argument of fanboys for any failing game is there is a magic build that will suddenly save the game before release.  There is no such thing as a magic build.  What you see in open beta is what you will get at release.  Except in this case where Funcom is attempting to hide most of their unfinished game from the public.  Open betas are not about testing they are about marketing.  If a company has a game they think is good they will show it to as many prospective buyers as possible.  WoW is great example a game which did not have a NDA, even in closed beta, and let over 500k people play in its open beta for free.  A company that thinks there game is not ready will show as little of the game as they can to people and then let fanboys like yourself go to work and sell the game for them.  They may realize their only chance to cash in the initial sale of boxes before the word gets out.

I am not going to predict doom and gloom here for AoC although it does not deserve any better.  Its a mediocre game with a ton of hype.  Funcom plans to invest 12% of its expected initial sales revenue in initil marketing.  AoC will sell a ton of boxes at release.  Hopefully it can reatin its subs.  Funcom is projecting initial sales of 600k.   While AoC may be a poorly, made unfinished game with little substance I am expecting a SWG like release where it fall far short of its potential if it was released finished and polished but it will still have a healthy subscriber base.  In a year or two it could be good game and one worth playing.

AoC is being targeted towards the 18-25 year old kiddies that do their best to ruin most communities.  With nudity, blood, gore and sex these kiddies will be everywhere. The younger kiddies, below 18,  are not as bothersome as the18-25 year old kiddies as they do not make as much noise.  Nor do they seem to have the constant need to express themselves in the most obnoxious way possible as do many of the 25 year old kiddies.

To answer your question this is certainly not a game for adults.  But I think we just have a different opinion of what is an an adult.  For the most part I do not see a difference in maturity between a 15 year old and a 25 year old just an increase in the amount of noise they make.  Even if they made this game for adults and only allowed those over 35 to play, the 18-25 year old kiddies would still infest the game with their juvenile behavior as  AoC is made and targeted for children of that age range.

I gave up on this game coming out around 2003 and 5 years later its still not in beta. 

We all love the story of 4 guys in Norway starting a MMO in their basement.  But when its been 8 years and there is no game questioning wheher Darkfall will ever be made is a legitimate question.  But I guess it comes down to how one questions it.  If one is going to insult people for following the game or hoping Darkfall works out thats plain wrong.  Just as the OP is wrong for insulting people that question whether anyone will ever play Darkfall.  Unfortunately mindless juvenile posts full of hate and anger seem to dominate most MMO boards.

Originally posted by Wharg0ul

 

Originally posted by -Pawn-

When will people get it. Beta is not a Demo or a FREE TRIAL.  Beta suppose to help them out before launch on Technical Stuff.  Not let the customer base try the game for free.  Also this way they are giving you guys a bite of the cookie and not the whole cookie. Then this will make you buy it.

yep. Open Beta is supposed to be testers volunteering to help the company stress test the game, and find last minute bugs. The testers are helping the game company in question. They NEED the testers to get the job done.

 

So paying for a chance to do so is fucked up.

Open betas are not about testing or helping improve the product.  Open betas are marketing and a form of stress test.  Companies use open betas to expose people to their product in hopes they buy it not to test the game.  It is quite telling that Funcom is only letting people play a few hours of gameplay to level 13.  It leaves people with the question of why will they not let people pay past level 13.  What are they afraid of?  Is the content past level 13 that unfinished?  Is the gameplay that poor that people will get bored after a few hours?  Is combat lacking such depth and fun that overexposure will cause people to lose excitement?  Do they feel the immature kiddie demographic who they are targeting this game does have the attention span to keep interested after a few hours of gameplay?  Do they feel level 1-13 experience is so great that exposing new people to that portion of the game will be enough to send them running to the stores?  It certainly raises some doubts that they will be pushing out an inferior and unfinished product while attempting to hide how bad the game truly is.

I would not call Warhammer being delayed.  Anyone who has followed these games knows its unlikley either game will release this year.

Graphics are arguable and subjective.  I think LOTR's graphics are better than Vanguard's as the towns, water and landscapes are more complete and the artwork is better.  Vanguard's graphics are hit and miss some areas look great others look terrible.  One area where Vanguard's graphics do shine is armor.  Vanguard's armor graphics do look fantastic with the exception of the class sets from APW.

Vanguard's character models are not great.  They are stiff and somewhat plastic looking but they are not near as stiff or ugly as those in EQ2.  The water in VG is terible.

The artwork in Vanguard is mostly lacking.  Little details and touches that you might have liked in WoW are for the most part not there in Vanguard.

Overall the graphics are good but not great.  Some of the vistas are fantastic.  The armor especially the low level armor really looks great.  The artwork for the most part is rushed and lacking and the game is lacking in detail and finish.

It really depends on your taste and what your looking for.

Brad McQuaid on a Vangurd podcast said Blizzard spent $75 million developing WoW.  EQ2 $25 million.  Sigil said they spent more than EQ2 but less than WoW.  People posted that DDO was $65 million (for a game that released with one town and 130 quests) but that includes the cost of the engine which was also used for LOTR.

Please no gore.  Gore, blood, sex and other immature themes only attracts the worst of the kiddies. Let the kiddiesl go to AoC andf keep Warhammer's theme more mature.

After seeing what SOE has done with Vanguard,  the only way I will play another SOE game is SOE sells the game to someone else.   In Vanguard they are  starving the game to death by getting rid of all the developers.  There has been almost no new content since they took over in May.  The game presently only has one content developer left.  It is shamefull what they have done.

GU4 is on test and what looks like close to release within a week or two of the scheduled date.  That  is a huge improvement as usually their updates arrive 2-3 months late.  2-3 weeks late is something to celebrate.

It's quite a sad day for Vanguard.   Avarem did an amazing job on APW.  This leaves Vanguard with only one content developer left for adventuerers.  I feel quite sorry for Tiraslee.  The amount of work he will have to do alone is quite amazing.  Get to work Tiraslee.  :)

Originally posted by morpin

 

Originally posted by VultureSkull

 

Originally posted by morpin

 

Originally posted by VultureSkull

 

7.  SOE  Since SOE took over last May there have been a total of 3 patches.  Development has essentially stopped as they they have trimmed the staff to a skeleton crew.  They have so far only completed projects started by Sigil last April.  The amount of content SOE has added to the game in almost a year is less than what SIgil would normally add in a week or that Turbine will add in their monthly update to LOTR.

 

 

It makes you wonder what exactly SOE spend their time and money on?

Are they still upgrading EQ2 or do they have a new game in development?

 

 

Its a shame asi beleive if they put a little more resource into VG it will go a long way.

They have done 23 patches.

 

http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/forums/show.m?forum_id=39

 LOL.. where do you guys dig up your facts? 

 

23 or 100 doesn't matter how many, things are moving too slow, since SOE seems not to be interested in getting this game where it needs to be, a MMO leader, which it easily has the potential to be.

Do you know what all the devs at SOE are working on?

Ummm... I think it does matter; saying 4 updates since May when they have actually done 23.. is quite misleading.

 

Of course I dont know what all the developers are doing.

I am VERY happy with the development that has taken place since SOE took over.  They have saved the game.  The have made fixing bugs and enchancing performance there #1 concern.

Do I wish they had more developers? .. sure....

You cant always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.

You can call it 23 updates if you count each patch to fix the bugs in their updates but really they have done 3 updates GU1, GU2 and Gu3.  Each of these updates contained less updates then Sigil would normally patch into the game in one week and much less than LOTR patches into their bimonthly updates.

The sad thing is all these updates were projects started by Sigil last April.  SOE has nor begun one addition to the game that was not already started by Sigil last April and close to being released last May besides the EE change, the increased XP and the additional Ksvari Gulch quests.

Essentially SOE has done nothing except finish Sigil's projects that would have all been into the game most likely last June if Sigil had remained in charge.  They have added nothing to the game themselves except the CTD bug and performance decreases bugs  they introduced last May which took them months to fix.  The game was arguably a much better game in May than it is now.

The problem sinply is EQ2 is SOE's game and Vanguard is not and SOE cares little to nothing as to whether or not Vanguard succeeds.  They are putting all their money and marketing into EQ2 and not Vanguard.  SOE simply got involved with Vanguard to reduce their risk as Vanguard threatened to draw from their target auduence.  Now they have the game they care little as they believe VG's target audience is the same as EQ2's.  That being said they think it makes sense to starve VG to death while they try to revive EQ2.  Hopefully one day they will realize the potential of VG is much higher than that of EQ2 and putting money into VG is hopefully a much better long term option than just funding EQ2.  I am sure SOE could use two successful games rather than one.  But they always look at short term dollars than the long run.  Vg is a game that when hardware catches up to it could do very well.

All of the above is not meant to demean the hard work of the Vanguard devs.  They work their butts off and work crazy hours.  They spend time in and out of game communicating with players. They also really know their stuff.  They readily admit on the public forums that they are severely understaffed.  This is not the devs problem as they often recieve criticism but rather its SOE's inability to commit the funds neccessary to develop the game.

EQ2 and Vanguard are polar opposites in games.  Vanguard has a very strong core in game mechanics such as crafting, combat and classes but is terribly unfinished.  EQ2 is very finished and polished but its corse systems of combat and crafting are awful and its classes are bad.

EQ2

Strengths

1.  Polish and Finish

2.  Raids

3.  The community

Weaknesses

1.  Combat  The combat mechanics are awful and awkward.  It  plays more like a free Asian MMO than a big budget MMO.

2.  Crafting  The crafting system is awful. Like EQ2's combat its an awkward version of whack a mole where choices and decisions have little effect.

3.  Fun The game is lacking in fun.

4.  The game is to easy.

5.  Classes the game really only has 4 classes.  All archetypes are alike and can substituted in and out.  Classes lack diversity and depth.

Vanguard

Weaknesses

1. The game is still terribly unfinished.  Almost every area and dungeon is incomplete and lacking.

2.  System requirements are high.

3.  Lack of tutorials and direction for new players.

4.  New players are isolated and segregated by 14 different starting areas leaving many new players with the feeling they are all alone when the servers are actually pretty full post 20 when people start grouping.

5.  The game is to easy, has super fast leveling and lacks challenge.  Players are greatly overpowered compared to the mobs they fight.

6.  Performance.

7.  SOE  Since SOE took over last May there have been a total of 3 patches.  Development has essentially stopped as they they have trimmed the staff to a skeleton crew.  They have so far only completed projects started by Sigil last April.  The amount of content SOE has added to the game in almost a year is less than what SIgil would normally add in a week or that Turbine will add in their monthly update to LOTR.

Strengths

1.  Classes  Vanguard classes are amazing.  Diverse fun and full of depth.

2.   Combat  Hands down the best combat system of any MMO on the market.  Sigil may have spent to much time tweaking combat, classes and crafting at the expense of everything else but they did do an amazing job.

3.  Crafting  The best crafting system on the market.  The core mechan ics of making an item is challenging and fun.  That being said crafting is not fully fleshed out or developed in vanguard.  Player cities are not yet in the game and so much more could be done in terms of recipes and expanding craftings impact on the world.

4.  The world   Its huge and fun with great potential but like most things in vanguard not finished.

5.  Fun  For all its flaws Vanguard is truly a fun game to play.

6.  APW The first raid zone was surprisingly very well done.  It was rushed out a bit early but they did do a very good job.

7.  The community. Like EQ2's one of the better, nicer and more mature communities that one will see in a MMO.

It really depends what you are lookingf for and how you value MMO.  If you want flash over substance take EQ2.  If you want a finished bug free mediocre game take eq2.  If you want  a very good poor game take Vanguard.  If you like diverse fun classes and good more in depth combat take vanguard.  If your a crafter take vanguard with the reservation that crafting while good is limited and unfinished.  Vanguard has more potential and at its core is a much better game than EQ2 but SOE appears to have no interest in funding and developing Vanguard.  But the bottomline is there is no right or wrong answer.  Play the game that fits your playstyle.   If one can get past the Vanguard's flaws it is truly an amazing game despite SOE's presence.

Originally posted by bobtheblob

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=93218

 

Apparantly WAR was missed from EA's release schedule however GOA say its still on track!

Also Eurogamer will have a hands on in a few weeks on it sMMO channel

Hah yes its on track for a Q2 release.  Just like AoC Q2 2009.

Originally posted by janoshan123

need a mmorpg to last me a couple of months  LOTR seems to be good for its price extrememly cheap compared to other mmo's and is flyff worth goin back to after many patches? and umm any other mmorpgs out there btw only play on weekends so need somethin pretty worthwhile

I think you will need more than a few months.  Expect both of these games to take another year before they are released.  IMO it is very unlikely that either AoC or Warhammer will be out before Xmas of this year.  Release dates like AoC's are almost never have anything to do with actual release but rather marketing and keeping the fan boys drooling in anticipation.  The bottomline is mordern games with huge worlds and more complex systems take a lot longer to make and longer to test.  Outside using paid beta testers to do most of a game testing (like WoW) it is not realistic to expect any major games beta to last less  than a year.

In terms of what to play.   There are only 4 major well done games that have been released since DAOC in 2001.  WoW, EQ2, LOTR and Vanguard.  Form your own opinion on WoW.  EQ2 has lot of finish and polish but at its core its a horrible game.  Its crafting. classes and combat mechanics are terrible and it plays more like a free Asian game.  LOTR is a very polished very fun game.  If you liked the books it might be a very good choice.  The game plays a lot more like the books than those horrible movies.  Vanguard is the polar opposite of EQ2.  Very unfinished greatly flawed but the best core mechanics of any game on the market.  Great combat, classes and crafting.  But the game is still greatly unfinished and SOE is not putting any money into development.

It really depends on what you want in a game.  Most games are fun, even EQ2 can be fun, if you enjoy what the game has to offer and do not dwell on what it is lacking.  But I would plan on spending a lot longer than 2 months for your wait.  AoC will not be out on May 20th and we will not be seeing War anytime soon either.

Originally posted by qombi

Originally posted by Zippy

 

 

Originally posted by RedwoodSap

One starting area for all the races is stupid. Talk about making the world small. Well what do you expect from SOE, they ruin everything they touch.

 

I like the 14 starting areas but the idea does make sense and fixes a problem that drives many new players away from the game.

 

New players are isolated and segregated by 14 different starting areas leaving many new players with the feeling they are all alone when the servers are actually pretty full post 20 when people start grouping.  By putting in a common starting area (hopefully they will give people the option of going to the racial areas) and the new riftway system changes they should allownew players to interact and hopefully group more.

I think it is very shortsighted if players would leave for this reason. These are probably not the type of players that would enjoy a game such as Vangaurd anyhow. That is what I have a problem with in most MMORPGs is they are always trying to design a game around every individual when single player games are designed around a vision and then implemented. Yes not everyone is going to enjoy a certain vision but there are different games for a reason. Why would we all want them to just be melded together into something that tries to please everyone? I think it makes for a boring game.

I will not disagree with you.  But i see many threads of new players being lost not knowing where to go and complaining  that the world feels empty and that they cannot find groups.  What SOE is trying to do here right or wrong is bring new people together.  While getting to level 10 or even 20 is only a matter of hours new people can spend an eternity being lost and if a game does not catch and draw people in right away they can get bored and leave.  I just hope SOE does the right thing and leaves players the option of choosing the starting racial area rather than forcing people into one starter area.

On the same line the new riftway system not requiring people to visit the rfitways allwoing instant teleportation to the 4 leveling areasforeach levels is being done along the same lines to aquaint new players with the quest hubs for their level and encourage grouping.I might not like it but its being done to help new players get aqualinted with the game easier and make player interaction and grouping easier. Hopefully it will help.

One of the biggest problems for new players in Vanguard is lack of direction tutorials and signposts as well as the isolation issue. SOE's standard response to any problem is to simply the game and make the easiest change possible to fix the percieved problem which genrerally means eliminating unique systems such as the EE system.  While I  will not say this is their approach to these problems this time I would argue that there are better ways of fixing these problems.  Making the starter areas more engaging, adding more tutorial quests and either linking the racial starter areas with a riftway tothe new non racial starter area and allwoing players a choice of opting out of the non racial starter area.  Another option and one sure not to make anyone happy would be to combine many of the races into fewer starter areas.  I really don't see this making anyone happy.

Originally posted by RedwoodSap

One starting area for all the races is stupid. Talk about making the world small. Well what do you expect from SOE, they ruin everything they touch.

I like the 14 starting areas but the idea does make sense and fixes a problem that drives many new players away from the game.

New players are isolated and segregated by 14 different starting areas leaving many new players with the feeling they are all alone when the servers are actually pretty full post 20 when people start grouping.  By putting in a common starting area (hopefully they will give people the option of going to the racial areas) and the new riftway system changes they should allownew players to interact and hopefully group more.

EQ2 and Vanguard are polar opposites in games.  Vanguard has a very strong core in game mechanics such as crafting, combat and classes but is terribly unfinished.  EQ2 is very finished and polished but its corse systems of combat and crafting are awful and its classes are bad.

EQ2

Strengths

1.  Polish and Finish

2.  Raids

3.  The community

Weaknesses

1.  Combat  The combat mechanics are awful and awkward.  It  plays more like a free asian MMO than a big budget MMO.

2.  Crafting  The crafting system is awful. Like EQ2's combat its an awkward version of whack a mole where choices and decisions have little effect.

3.  Fun The game is lacking in fun.

4.  The game is to easy.

5.  Classes the game really only has 4 classes.  All archetypes are alike and can substituted in and out.  Classes lack diversity and depth.

Vanguard

Weaknesses

1. The game is still terribly unfinished.  Almost every area and dungeon is incomplete and lacking.

2.  Sytem requitements are high.

3.  Lack of tutorials and direction for new players.

4.  New players are isolated and segregated by 14 different starting areas leaving many new players with the feeling they are all alone when the servers are actually pretty full post 20 when people start grouping.

5.  The game is to easy, has super fast leveling and lacks challenge outside raids.

6.  Performance.

7.  SOE  Since SOE took over last May there have been a total of 3 patches.  Development has essentially stopped as they they have trimmed the staff to a skeleton crew.  They have so far only completed projects started by Sigil last April.  The amount of content SOE has added to the game in almost a year is less than what SIgil would normally add in a week or that Turbine will add in their monthly update to LOTR.

Strengths

1.  Classes  Vanguard classes are amazing.  Diverse fun and full of depth.

2.   Combat  Hands down the best combat system of any MMO on the market.  Sigil may have spent to much time tweaking combat, classes and crafting at the expense of everything else but they did do an amazing job.

3.  Crafting  The best crafting system on the market.  The core mechan ics of making an item is challenging and fun.  That being said crafting is not fully fleshed out or developed in vanguard.  Player cities are not yet in the game and so much more could be done in terms of recipes and expanding craftings impact on the world.

4.  The world   Its huge and fun with great potential but like most things in vanguard not finished.

5.  Fun  For all its flaws Vanguard is truly a fun game to play.

6.  APW The first raid zone was surprisingly very well done.  It was rushed out a bit early but they did do a very good job.

7.  The community. Like EQ2's one of the better, nicer and more mature communities that one will see in a MMO.

It really depends what you are lookingf for and how you value MMO.  If you want flash over substance take EQ2.  If you want a finished bug free mediocre game take eq2.  If you want  a very good poor game take Vanguard.  If you like