All Posts by Gishgeron

Originally posted by pencilrick

Originally posted by chryses

Love or hate the game they have shipped 1 million copies already and i can see them shipping more.  Its probably the biggest MMO success since WoW.  So when you have 1 million people sign up at least 10-20% will hate it so that equals 200,000 trolls on the forums.  On the other side at least 20% will love it so you have 200,000 fanbois hitting back.  In the middle is the content 400,000 and I happily place myself there.  The game has enough content to keep me occupied until christmas at least and by that time there will be a lot more content.  Unusually I want to play a at least 6 different classes because they all play so differently.

 

 

All I can say is that if you can make it through Tortage six times, then you deserve some special kind of award.

  City of Heros probably has a badge for that....

Originally posted by Praxus

Considering how popular the game is; its surprising there's so much hate and whining on these forums..

But the facts speak for themselves - the game is doing well. So the whiners can have fun bitching and complaining until Warhammer comes out; at which point they can start the whole process again.

  We have no facts, actually.  The only number any of us have (that is legit) are the "shipped" figures.  We do not know what the subs are, what the retention from initial sales are, what the average monthly growth is...ect.

  Until ALL of those three things become apparent, we know nothing.  Everything is purely speculative at this point, and even the industry professionals would agree with that.  Shipped boxes means nothing, it isn't even reflective of sales...as the PS3 had a ton of "shipped" boxes that are still sitting on shelves.   All the shipping number means is that they are actively preparing for whatever projected demand they assume they may have based on interest.  It does not mean there actually IS said interest, or that there is even demand for half of what they project.

  It also doesn't mean there isn't.  I don't know, anything I could say here would be just as speculative as everyone else.  The game, however, is not a success yet.  Success in a returning customer system is entirely based on how many returning customers you have.  We do not, after all, think Mc'Donalds to be a success just because they sold a ton of hamburgers on their first day.  Its the fact they do it EVERYDAY that makes us notice them in that industry.  The same holds true here.  We need sub numbers, we need average growth figures. 

  We have neither.

Originally posted by Antikythera

After that there's 5 months left in the year. 5 months to setup and run a public Beta , Fix any issues that pop up and prepare for a commercial launch.

Who actually believes this is going to happen? I mean c'mon let's be realistic. It's simply NOT going to happen.

So if it doesn't happen than what exactly was the purpose of Tasos announcing this? 

Was it a straight up lie designed to string along people some more?

Was it him actually believing it can and will be done? which would point to complete incompetence.

The mystery deepens!

  This is not news to most of us.  This particular scenario has played itself out for years now, over and over...repeating the same song and dance it has each and every time.  Only the new meat can see it and feel anything, for the rest of us...it is a Corpse Marionette Theatre.  The thing may move and shake, but it is dead all the same.  Its strings being pulled against its very will (were it to have a will at all), a macabre unlife that it is forced to live at the behest of those who cannot simply bury in the grave to which it belongs.

Originally posted by Zindaihas

Can I just say a quick word here about game sales.  I think companies have a distinct advantage when it comes to the sales of their games because, unless you've beta tested it, most people have little or no clue about how it's going to play.  And since everyone is looking for a great game to fill the void of the last game they left, they are willing to give it a try whether it's good or not.

That was the case with in every game I've played since EQ.  I played EQ for 2 years and finally got bored with it.  I immediately began to look forward to the next great MMO.  Since that was my first, I figured they would continue to improve.  They would keep adding more content, more options and the graphics would just keep getting better.  Well the graphics did get better, but that was about the only thing that improved.

At the time I quit playing EQ, EQ II was well in development.  Most single player games I played got better with each version.  It was only natural to assume that MMOs would be the same way.  2 would be better than 1.  Boy was I wrong about that.  So I gave up on EQ II and was so let down that I didn't even bother with WoW.

As a result, the void never got filled.  I waited for the next game and was disappointed by that one.  And then the next game and that was disappointing as well.  By the time AoC came out, I had very low expectations for that game, but since there was nothing else on the horizen, decided to give it a try.  Sure enough, it turned out to be poor.

So if there are a lot of people out there like me who are hungry for a game that gives them exactly what they want, companies are going to continue to get decent sales numbers upon the release of their games.  It's how long those numbers last that will better tell how good it is.

WoW?  I can't explain why WoW's numbers are so high and stay that way other than it being the first MMO for so many people.  And being the first, that is their impression of what MMOs are supposed to be like and so are not as disappointed as those of us who have more experience with them.  Also, in fairness to Blizzard, it did do some things extremely well, like make a relatively bug free game and also make a game that doesn't require high specs.  So that probably compensates for the mediocre gameplay.

Boy, I thought this was going to be a quick word.  Guess I was wrong there.

  I can help you understand this a bit better.  EVERY MMO offers mediocre gameplay.  To try and metaphor this....

  If all restaurants cooked the same dish, you'd choose the one with the shortest drive and best seats.  WoW is just that, the easiest MMO to get to (Low Reqs) and has the best seats (fluid UI with easily the most user-friendly functionality every produced).  Blizzard didn't change the dish, they just made everything else better.  This formula shouldn't surprise you, as its the same principle they have applied to EVERY game they make.

  The RTS games were, after all, the same dish as well...simply served in a setting that was much more appealing to its customer.  Hell, the most innovative GAMEPLAY they have actually done was with the Diablo series.  Realistically, they still didn't invent the hack n' slash.  They just, essentially, invented the fully randomized dungeon.  I'm not even completely sure about THAT.  I think some sega RPG's actually did it first...but I can't remember.

  You know what, I take that back.  The actual gameplay was still borrowed from other games.  The combat was fairly borrowed from the "legend of -" games and everything else was, basically, UI changes to make it easier and faster for the user to work with.  Blizzard have long been kings of taking the wheel already invented, and placing it effectively on a bicycle that is much easier to use than everyone else's B.C. "spoke" to ride on.

  I liked Lunia.  Its combat and game flow were a very nice break from the norm.  I really enjoyed how story driven the game was, and how "active" the combat felt.  It hearkened back to Legend of Zelda games from years past, and had a single player RPG feel with an MMO element set into it.  It also ran very smoothly (which, given its graphic choice, is a no brainer) and had a feel all its own.

  That said, I am not playing it currently.  I removed it from my PC to make room for other adventures, and only notice its gone on occasion.  I do sort of regret doing so, though, because there are many a day that come by in which I would like something like it to jump into when the REAL MMO games are dragging me down. 

  My honest final opinion is this:

  It is NOT going to replace a real MMO.  But its totally worth having on your PC to play around with from time to time, easily.  Its certainly a solid game, for what it is, and you should give it a whirl.

  The sandbox is dead because the players that lived in it chose to make the game miserable.  I hate the EQ style, but it at least gave new players a game they could actually play.  FFA-Full Loot games do not, and thus will never again work to the degree we wish it would.

  There will always be a market for content which can be easily accessed and quickly consumed.  I CAN see how a multiplayer aspect will attempt to work its way into everything.  In many ways, if properly done, such an aspect COULD work its way into everything successfully.  I do NOT, however, think that the designers in ANY market have enough of a clue as to how to MAKE such a thing work yet.  We can barely make the simplistic MMO structure work, hell...the XBL crap outplays it at every turn.  Think about how many truly horrid games the achievements list has found players playing.  Given what I see in our industry...I think that almost everything is running stagnate, and that we are trying to use these multiplayer aspects to salvage what is, otherwise, the most apparent case of writers block I have ever seen.

  Right now, we aren't using Multiplayer for anything more than a bandaid to fix the fact that we have run out of ideals to improve the games anymore.

Originally posted by Souldrainer

I predict AoC will cap at 3-5 million subs. 

  I wouldn't predict something like that for a game I thought was 1000 times better than anything ever made.  I'm well aware that what happened to WoW was an anomaly, and that the players LEAVING WoW will be a diverse mix of demands that no one game can hope to meet and retain all of them.  To move forward, we WILL see more focused design choices going on (like WAR and its focus on PvP) to appeal to each branch of those leaving players.  Even then...many players still will be leaving WoW to never rejoin the market again.  In no way can we expect any MMO to achieve  millions of players ever again, for doing so (and planning ones' financial future and budget around such) will end only in complete failure and a likely repeat of what happened to SWG.

  Nay, I say.  I think we should consider even 500K a major success for any game.  I can SEE someone getting a million players, for sure, but that comes with the assumption that they do everything right.  I think that we can ALL agree that Funcom did NOT do everything right.  The choices they made helped them in the short run (getting extra subs early on) but will ensure that their initial players will be divided amongst the new games that are coming out. 

Originally posted by doffmann

Originally posted by Jackdog

 

As far as moving on , get a grip dude. I bought it, I played it for a short period of time now I will comment on it.

 

abunch of peeple bout this game and found out that there woodoo2 grafices card was just too old to run it so they desided to hate what they cant have

  Really?  I'm glad to hear that simply upgrading ones graphics card will automatically make their stat system work, their Tier 3 cities open, their entire PvP system they promised install, the DX10 support show up, and for content past tortage to magically appear.  I've really been waiting for someone to clear that up for me, thanks.

  Perhaps YOU need to learn how to read what the haters are saying, and stop opening your mouth until you can actually make a response that makes sense.

  I offer the same prediction I've made since even BEFORE all the horrible negative elements were discovered.  150K players.  I cannot say what percent that number is, as I have seen no actual subscriber numbers on which to BASE such a thing.  I would assume that 150K is around a third retention, but that also assumes that they have around 500K players at the moment.  I would feel safer assuming 300K, and that would make their rate around 50%. 

  Frankly, I don't think they deserve even that since they couldn't even manage a working stat system...but thats me.  Given what I see the fans say on this board, I guess I just expect TOO MUCH.

Originally posted by Ascension08 

Right, I think if you play something it's hard to review 100% unbiased. And when you throw money in the mix well it's even harder. I do expect all sites to be as unbiased as possible of course, and I attribute the 90+ ratings to the fact that AoC polished Tortage.
 

   Its also important to note that the problem with stats would not have been noticed in the newb zone because you only had very basic gear and it was replaced relatively soon.  The broken feats would also have not shown light on themselves as well.  IN fact, the vast majority of the BIG issues in this game would have never been seen from Tortage...which only goes to prove that they forced their beta players to cap at 13 for a REASON.

  This was all very deliberate.

Originally posted by Balthaazar1

I frankly don't give two sh*ts what the disgruntled whining half the community has to say, but Funcom, does care. They are listening to us, you whine when you don't feel justice is done by this game, and well, looks like you whine when they do offer what you were whining about to begin with. It's all very amusing. I for one say Kudos, to Funcom, for realizing what we want and going above and beyond in scope of those offerings so desired. If you don't like it, well who gives a sh*t really?

  My, you require so very little to appease yourself.  I'd be first in line to commend them...if they had given even half of what they hyped.  Not only did they leave out a fair portion of the hyped content (including small things like dx10 support), but they left out one of the most critical things to HAVE in a MMO....stats.  They don't even have a working stat system, and that is by and far the single most pathetic thing I have ever seen.

  I could probably swallow just about everything else they've done wrong BUT that.  If the junky free to play guys can get a working stat system on a budget that would barely keep Mcdonalds open a day....I feel that Funcom should be able to as well.

Originally posted by jondifool

 

 

This link is properly the fastest way to get an insight in the classes atm

http://www.massively.com/2008/06/04/massively-goes-to-war-the-classes-of-warhammer-in-a-nutshell/

  You know what, you just sold me completely on the game with that link.  I wasn't really on the fence, but I WAS going to wait till a bit after release to check into it.  However, the Engineer class just gave me an MMO woody.  I really liked the concept so much, I'm probably going to pre-order.

  I have no ideal what people are crying about....I played from Closed Beta all the way to release and have never encountered any of the things they say.  Gold was never a problem for me, all I ever had to do was set up my harvesting when I was done with the game and let it auto-harvest while I slept.

  The combat was great because I was able to mix classes together to find the blend which suited my playstyle best.  The plot was good enough, and the quests were plentiful.  Hell, the class quests are some of the most enjoyable things I've ever done.  To unlock the martial artist (or was it monk...its been awhile) all you had to do was have enough stamina to take one hit from the teacher.  It was kind of neat, and gave me a chuckle.

  Really, the only foul thing I COULD say about the game is its strict linear nature on its world maps.  So many hills and mountains which divide the landscape into set paths.  But the areas past the first 3 (all of which are around the same level...no biggie) open up quite a bit more, so I never noticed it.

  Truth be told, this is easily one of the top 3 F2P games I've ever touched.  I don't hand that out lightly, as I've played practically every MMO listed here and some which aren't.

  In case you are wondering, that list is as follows:

  Perfect World

  DOMO

  Rappelz

  I actually liked Flyff as well, but I can't rate it very high as it lacks a ton of content.  The game is pretty much a straight forward grind game, which it does well....but means that all of the gameplay is left inside getting a group and killing the same thing for literally hours on end.

Originally posted by VultureSkull

I may be wrong, but i think that a lot of the pvp stuff has yet to be included in the game, isnt AOC suppose to have pvp levels and pvp rewards etc?

I use the word "included" as it seems that Funcom have already developed it but have not yet opended it up for some reason.

Regardless i think AoC was designed as a pvp game, and so there is still a lot to come on the pvp front.

 I think the key word here is patience, and see what will be implemented.

  Wait...wait...wait!  Let me get this straight....

  AoC is a PvP game, as you say.  It was designed to BE a PvP game, according to you.  Yet, we are supposed to WAIT and be PATIENT while this game (which is, by your own words, a PvP game) FINALLY gets around to actually implementing the numerous elements which would actually MAKE it a PvP game?  Why in the hell would we do that????? 

  Would it not be expected that they should have all of this already in?  I certainly wouldn't buy a Madden game and then be kindly patient while they got around to adding the mother-loving football to it.  How about instead of patience, we work with common sense.  By accepting crap like this, you enable this trend to continue.  Thanks, because now I'm very sure many many more MMO companies are going to keep tossing junk at our heads because people like you think its okay to pay them for the promise of something in the future...even AFTER being promised it today.

Originally posted by blackf00t

ok then name one mmo flawless launch just one is all i ask for

 

 

 

and if anyone says wow i will smack them inthe mouth

 

all mmo's that are out and that come out are unfineshed thats kind of the way it works

deal with it .

thats the way it has been its for damn sure not exclusive to AoC

get over it .

 

 

  Most at least have their STATS actually work, however.  Oh, and they also tend to haven content fleshed out throughout their level ranges to get players by until they can add more stuff at endgame.  They ALSO tend to have at least half of their promised features in game as well. 

  Let us not compare the debacle of what this game is calling "bugs" and what other games do.  I can cope with bugged quests...but when the game doesn't even use its own stat system yet, I'm forced to side with reason and assume these tools dropped a game which is barely even a husk of what it should be.

Originally posted by DeadlyMage

 

Originally posted by Gishgeron

 

Originally posted by DeadlyMage

 

il try out domo an flyff :) (not so fond of the graphics...but it wont hurt to try)

 

thanks for talking to me in a respectable way. unlike other in this topic

 

  You are welcome.  I have tested and played more MMO's than most people around here have even so much as glanced at.  I KNOW where you are coming from, and why you feel that way.  Its one of the more critical things I look at when I review these MMO's.  That said, I'd probably trial DOMO first as its overall a MUCH better game than Flyff.  Flyff is smooth in what it does, and I loved getting in large groups and leveling in it.  Flying was fun as well...if a bit pointless other than to travel easier. 

  DOMO, however, is one of the best games I have ever played...and I do not say that lightly.  They deserve the credit they get for that one...its done very well, unless something has changed.  I've been away from it for awhile because I had to do other things, and my wife and I play CoX together as our main MMO.  What can I say...there will always be something great about super jumping across a cityscape and then taking down a few hundred mobsters will my army of thugs.

thanks man

 

is domo 100% skill based? no level what so ever.

if so then il have to give it a try. that sound pretty awsome. is the game gear based?

  I'm going to TRY and break it down for you.  It IS level based...but...in a weird way.  You see, at any time you can switch classes and level them from 10 (which is the level your commoner class is allowed to change out to the other 12 or so).  Each class has abilities divided into three "brackets".  Your character has, like, 5 "extra" brackets to which you can equip "brackets" from classes you have already leveled.  What this means is that you CAN have a Warrior whom casts Shaman spells and uses doctor heals.  Since there is no restriction to this (other than weapon and armor restrictions, which can be opened at level 30 to another "bracket" for that class) you could easily level 3 classes to 15 and then switch back to your old one and be FAR (and this isn't FAR's baby brother, this is the real deal) more powerful than you were.

  At level 15 my warrior could AoE large groups with his warrior skills, place a 600-point DoT on a larger mob from his shaman list along with using its Mana recharge buff to keep his bar going, and then finish up with a few heals to make sure he didn't die on his 12-18 monster pulls.  This is at 15....I didn't even flesh out the system yet.  I just took a handful of things that looked cool to my basic understanding of the mechanics and ran with it.  Imagine what it could be if you really put some time and thought into it.

  As for gear...you can actually just "upgrade" your own gear as you level.  The merchants sell you new gear as you go along, though.  I'm sure there are rare and "even more rare" types encountered later on...but I do not know to what extent the game becomes a gear game.  It probably does, and there is probably a system in place for it.  But, in my limited time with it...I did not notice anything crazy going on in that department.  Hell, the game even gives you two free full sets for your first two classes.  So far as I saw...the game was more focused on blending class abilities to make a character you liked more than being  a gear whore.  But that might change towards the end, as most MMO's DO after all.

Originally posted by lawlitsDavid

I can't seem to decide which of these free mmos to dedicate my gaming time to. Flyff is a bit more hands on when it comes to grinding and leveling.Find a partner, find a party, find an empty spawn, and grind. Though, it all pays off with an in game arena and guild battles. In maple story however, it is much more carefree when it comes to leveling. Log on and start killing, though there isn't any pvp or direct awards of leveling up. I would like to know your opinions on which of these two games I should spend my time playing.

  Tough call...though I think that Flyff is probably best if you want open 3-d worlds to explore.  Its translation is ROUGH at best sometimes...but my time with it was very good (level 52 merc, 35 assist, 24 acro, and my wife has a level 60 mage that is logged out about to finish its quest to become Elementor)

  Also, since I've said this in another thread just moments ago, you might try DOMO as well.  Very solid game, with a very engaging multi-class system.