Well im not buying DDO now, I had been looking forward to it but if the company can't afford to keep their other games running then there is no chance for DDO to do well.

DDO is VAPORware, mark my mother fucking words

America, FUCK YEAH

But is it an RPG? Deep? Rife with content?

In concept, all MMORPG's are "deep" and "rife with content", but none have turned out that way. When I think of a deep game, the Final Fantasy games and Bioware games are the first that come to my mind.

WoW doesn't have a deep, intricate, involving storyline...but then again, neither does any other MMORPG. Are any other MMORPGs REALLY anything but grinding and a little bit of socializing throw in? Nope.

I give WoW credit because it is the only MMORPG that really doesn't feel like a chore to play. At least not until the higher levels. I gave up at level 32 simply because all of my friends played so much more (and levelled much faster) and left me alone in some retarded jungle level all by myself for an eternity.

I would go so far as to say every single MMORPG has been a failure up until WoW. It is the only one that is truly a game that is fun to play on it's own merits.

ROFLMAO, WoW is a n00b MMO

Easy and accessible? Now why would anybody want their game to be easy and accessible?

Dumb ass.

BTW, I was a beta tester for UO before that ever came out. I still have the CD in the little package they sent to me. So I guess that means I'm not quite a n00b MMO, whatver that is.

All this exchange of AC2 closing (good) and WoW being mediocre ...just came across this at Filefront :

China Reducing MMOGs
How big a problem is MMOG addiction in East Asia? Big enough that China is trying to control the amount of time citizens spend playing MMOGs. All Chinese companies operating MMOGs will have to take part in a centralized (natch) system that penalizes players’ characters if they’re online for more than three hours. Way to ruin the fun, China.

Communism ftw!

Edit: Speaking of which, this wouldn't include Blizzard's foray into the Chinese market with WoW would it?


This comment was edited on Aug 26, 19:27.

You can pretty much mention any MMORPG and it can be ripped up in this forum. The truth is, right now it's WoW or nothing. Any of those who found WoW to be too easy, I hope you're speaking from the experience of leveling your character to 60 on a PvP server. Otherwise, it's like complaining a game is too easy after playing it in easy difficulty.


This comment was edited on Aug 26, 18:13.

Alas, the excel spreadsheets do not justify that.

That would essentially, for the time involved, be a new game.

For that, they have DDO or LotR. Meanwhile, AC1 can have very minimal updates and still increase the total on that spreadsheet.
R.I.P.
:(,
Ray

Edit: I cannot even type "excel" correctly.
-----
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=ray_marden
http://www.livejournal.com/users/raymarden/
I love you, mom.
This comment was edited on Aug 26, 15:34.

We, the fans, expected AC2 to be AC1 with gameplay improvements and better graphics. AC2 is NOT, and NEVER has been seen as part of the Asheron's Call universe, and that's the reason for its demise. I knew this day would come and frankly the announcement doesn't surprize me.

I think what Turbine should do now is take EVERYTHING from AC1 (and when I say everything, I mean everything) and move it into the AC2 engine. All the creatures, locales, dereth landscape, dungeons, playable races, armor, weaponry, EVERYTHING... exactly as it appears in AC1 and wash it over with AC2's lush graphics. And while their porting the game to the new engine work on enhancing gameplay and make lots of revisions to relieve the grind. Give the fans what we originally thought AC2 would be. If they do this I guarentee Turbine would probably keep and add new subscribers. I sure as hell would resubscribe.


-----
latest track: http://www.kxmode.com/media/music/kxmode_-_driftwood.mp3
more free music: http://music.download.com/kxmode

This comment was edited on Aug 26, 15:22.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=883&Itemid=2

I do not wish to just beat on Turbine for the sheer sake of it, but it dumbfounds me that the company even holds this as any type of "real" fault.

People had to update their billing? Making people that were not playing or just did not like the game stop paying for it?

And that is anything other than the fault of the game or, subsequently, developer? The subsequent lackluster expansion is brushed over as well.

"Yeah, we got screwed when the people that didn't play our game left - it's all MS' fault"
Not that I am saying MS is not evil
I mean, come on...

Smirking at AC1 coming through the transition ;),
Ray

-----
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=ray_marden
http://www.livejournal.com/users/raymarden/
I love you, mom.

I seriously doubt it.

It...it really is like a casual, easy going online 3D Diablo.

Levels 1-58 Just grind, grind, grind

Levels 58-60+ Repeatedly run the same instances for your armor set or specific items you want. For some items, I ran a specific two-hour instance twenty-five times. The instances are not dynamic; factor in some repetition and boredom.

Level 60++ Just run MC or now BWL. At this point, you really need some of the high end gear and, though I understand its anti-farming purpose, the week-long lockout causes issues for the non-hardcore people. Ultimately, guilds form 40 people groups, cap off new people, and only ever really run with the exact same people.

At this point, you are now playing a MMOG...of 40 people. You have even less variety; you all need to have specific gear, you all need to have relative similar builds, you all have very specific roles, rogues are players you take along out of pity that repeatedly die in one hit ;), etc. Given the time involved for these larger instances, there is much more drama over loot and it really compounds the clique mentality.

Otherwise, giving up on adding story or content, Blizard took the easy route of PvP - let all the kids just beat on each other. I could care less about that, that is what UT or HL2 or whatever is for, but I realize it is a big thing for the less demanding. But even then, the population is so screwed up that one of the two battlegrounds is never nearly open simply because you cannot find enough horder that are willing, capable, and wanting to play. Back when it was "working" a thirty minute to one hour wait was not unheard of.

Note that I am not even getting into the major, obvious class balance issues. The PvP honor system favors people that do massive damage and that tag a mob. So...high damage and AoE? Holy shit - go mages, go!

In addition to being burned by the greed and pettiness of people, that is why I left the game. 1-60 is a grind, you get your set, and then you basically farm an instance once a week. When you (quickly) get bored, you just go whack on all the other kiddies.

If I logged in today, I would have two options:

a. Go immediately farm money for hours with my warrior and then look into getting into one of just two instance that offer me any items.

b. Go play an alt/make a new character and do the exact same quests over and over and over and over and over and over.

Other little things, Blizzards refusal to deal with ebay farmers and exploiters, the worsening economy, and non-existent customer service increased my negative feeling.

Blizzards last resort is "repeatable quests," ie faction. But that is specifically designed around you repeating the exact same action over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, usually for weeks on end, just to achieve the one item, reward, or plan you want.

Wow is easy to get into.

Wow is still, ultimately, a Diablo item hunt.

But is it an RPG? Deep? Rife with content?

Hardly.
w3rd
All rambley today (well, ok, every day) :o,
Ray

-----
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=ray_marden
http://www.livejournal.com/users/raymarden/
I love you, mom.

Totally agree with Shalacka. WoW has decent graphics and a well done interface, especially being user moddable. But it lacks alot of depth and longevity. Maybe that will change with an expansion...

Turbine has AC1, which apparently is still doing well, and other games they are working on, so AC2 is probably a distraction from more profitable ventures. They can just move people who are working on AC1 somewhere else. I would guess the WWIIOnline people don't have much else going on, so they are fine with just eking by.

No seriously, isn't this fucking retarded?

Ya, but you should know that going in...it's nothing new. It's something I expect all MMOs to go through, unless they release the server code when they close...

How'd the tooth thing go, BTW? OK?



--------------------------------------------------------------
GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 10 W/Mo

Don't look at me that way. It was An Honest Mistake. http://www.thebravery.com/

Creston, are you trying to summon Riley out from under his bridge?

*evil cackle*

No seriously, isn't this fucking retarded? How has this not yet turned into a lawsuit in this country. You pay 50 bucks for a game, you pay 10-15 bucks a month, then the dev / publisher decides "This isn't worth it", and rather than scale down, they just can everything, and you're out of your 50 dollars that you paid for a game that you will NEVER be able to use again. (not even counting the monthly investments that people made into their characters).

If I pay 50 bucks for a game, I expect to be able to play that game until the end of frigging time.

At the LEAST, a Dev should make a stand alone server package so that people can host their own servers.

This is why I seriously hate mmorpgs.

Creston

Thanks for coughing up 50 dollars on a game you will never ever again be able to use.

Creston, are you trying to summon Riley out from under his bridge?

--------------------------------------------------------------
GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 10 W/Mo

Don't look at me that way. It was An Honest Mistake. http://www.thebravery.com/

Thanks for coughing up 50 dollars on a game you will never ever again be able to use.

Why people actually put up with this kind of bullshit is beyond me.

This is now the...third mmorpg that has shut down? Great investment for your money there.

Creston

What does Shalacka play? ShadowBane? That's the next one to go.

ROFLMAO, WoW is a n00b MMO. It has 0 longevity. I'll admit it has done well but so did the Sims! Why? Because they are both very easy and accessible. There are plenty of MMOs out there that are far from dead and offer a far more complex and challenging game world.

I got to level 30 in WoW in about 7 days and cancelled my Sub. Thats a joke. Its not even worthy of being called an MMO, it's just Diablo with better graphics. I will give Blizzard kudos on the interface, it is very good!

Face it, folks. When it comes to MMORPG's there is only one worth playing: WoW. I've tried them all (except AC2 and Planetside). Each has little things about it that is really cool, but only Wow elevates the game experience beyond a glorified chat room.

Each and every MMORPG developer is scrambling to catch up. WoW is a huuuuge leap forward. Blizzard hit a fucking home run with that game.

I like Turbine as a company. I loved AC1, it was one of the better mmorpgs around.

AC2? well, lets just say this is what happens when you push a game out a year early and toss it on players. Either way, I seriously hope this is a lesson learned for Turbine.