well the bad bad marketing, the god danm silly server split (many other games do that too.. WHY the hell???) and the god damn WOW killed that game, which looked great, played kinda different, and hat a nice beginning.
you didnt only start the game and sitting there for a typical "what now" situation. as i saw on aion beta: cool intro, then.. u r there.. somewhere.. u dont know WHY, u dont know what to do what ever..
and then? u see the boring typical quest giver 1 and start with the boring typical quest style1: kill 4 mobs.. and then.. (WOWW !!) quest 2: kill 5x different mob.. (wow what a beginning!)
ok aion is using a great engine.. (but actually doesnt use its full possibilities, thats obious), but.. when i started TCOS, i felt to be INSIDE.. not many games gimme that feeling...
most games gimme the feeling of beeing a GUEST visiting the game (also the same feeling in wow, but a bit better then in AION cb)
I'm confused. Why do you keep mentioning Aion? Noone has said a word about Aion in this discussion.
Currently playing: Star Wars: The Old Republic, World of Warcraft, Dota 2, League of Legends
Waiting on: Blade & Soul, Guild Wars 2, Tera, Kingdoms of Amular, Firefall
1. We don't have the numbers so it's hard to make an objective assertion whether most people liked the game or not.
2. Giving distribution rights to two different companies was a HUGE mistake.
3. Blocking IPs pissed a lot of people off. By the time they removed the IP ban it was too late.
4. Marketing based on fanbois alone never works.
5. Graphics were cool, but outdated.
As for my experience, I did not enjoy the game. They kept selling it as the most frigging awesomest thing since slice bread, and it fell flat on its face. Full of FedEx and kill-based quests. Not very many instanced content. Combat was a bit different but at the end of the day it boiled down to the same lame hotbar-click-cooldown system that EVERY MMO out there has -- only this one rotates. Their self-created lore and back story was interesting, to be sure, but not really enough to get me hooked on the game. I was very disappointed, to be honest. I was following this games development for about a year and all along I had the sneaking suspicion that it was going to fail before it even started -- and my suspicions were proven true once I tried beta.
1. We don't have the numbers so it's hard to make an objective assertion whether most people liked the game or not. 2. Giving distribution rights to two different companies was a HUGE mistake. 3. Blocking IPs pissed a lot of people off. By the time they removed the IP ban it was too late. 4. Marketing based on fanbois alone never works. 5. Graphics were cool, but outdated.
You are so right. With only a good game you cant make it in mmorpgland. You ll need good management and marketing. They pretty much sucked at that.
I really enjoyed the game. The combat system and lore were great and the community was really helpful. Its a pity how such a great game can end this way
This was the funniest part to me, skills had nothing to do in this game, it was all about what class you chose, imbalance was such a HUGE issue in this game, never seen anything like it in the past.
I beta tested Spellborn, was really looking forward to it. I was a real fanboi prior to release. Some of you may remember I had a Spellborn signature during that time.
Well the game sucks big time. It's a WoW clone, a completely task driven linear experience modeled design after WoW with stupid unrealistic icons floating over NPCs heads and glows and arrows on the minimaps to hold your hand and show you where to go next.
The PVP had no real risk vs reward so became fairly meaningless except to frustrate other players and the death penalty overall was insignificant, ruining both immersion and gameplay by not offering realistic consequences for ones actions.
In addition, there is no real crafting in the game. Sigils are bonuses which can be added to items by NPCs, but players cannot create items to trade themselves and therefore are unable to build a reputation as a crafter which also contributes to a non existant player economy.
I beta tested Spellborn, was really looking forward to it. I was a real fanboi prior to release. Some of you may remember I had a Spellborn signature during that time. Well the game sucks big time. It's a WoW clone, a completely task driven linear experience modeled design after WoW with stupid unrealistic icons floating over NPCs heads and glows and arrows on the minimaps to hold your hand and show you where to go next. The PVP had no real risk vs reward so became fairly meaningless except to frustrate other players and the death penalty overall was insignificant, ruining both immersion and gameplay by not offering realistic consequences for ones actions. In addition, there is no real crafting in the game. Sigils are bonuses which can be added to items by NPCs, but players cannot create items to trade themselves and therefore are unable to build a reputation as a crafter which also contributes to a non existant player economy.
I agree with most of what you have to say. To me, however, what did it for me was that they touted and patted themselves in the back to no end was the combat system. Which, to be honest, was different and a little more engaging than your _average_ MMO. However, they created the whole game around it (combat system) and thought they could get away with releasing an otherwise mediocre game based on it. That said, once you got the gist and nuance of it, it became nothing more than a glorified, rotating hot bar.
Another thing was the fact that they set out to break molds and specifically break the mold of the Holy Trinity of RPGs (Tanks, casters, healers). And they _DID_ break it, but not in the right way. They broke the MMO aspect but they also broke the RPG aspect. And furthermore they put ZERO emphasis on grouping and co-op. You cannot make a Massively Multiplayer game, make grouping irrelevant and hope you're gonna make it.
But the engine was total crap. Not sure how you can make the Unreal engine run so badly. I couldn't get past 20fps on any rig I put it on. I'm running SLI on my main, and the game BARELY utilized it at all.
As quoted earlier in thread, there are a ton of F2P out there that are way better.
I beta tested Spellborn, was really looking forward to it. I was a real fanboi prior to release. Some of you may remember I had a Spellborn signature during that time. Well the game sucks big time. It's a WoW clone, a completely task driven linear experience modeled design after WoW with stupid unrealistic icons floating over NPCs heads and glows and arrows on the minimaps to hold your hand and show you where to go next. The PVP had no real risk vs reward so became fairly meaningless except to frustrate other players and the death penalty overall was insignificant, ruining both immersion and gameplay by not offering realistic consequences for ones actions. In addition, there is no real crafting in the game. Sigils are bonuses which can be added to items by NPCs, but players cannot create items to trade themselves and therefore are unable to build a reputation as a crafter which also contributes to a non existant player economy.
Arrows and glows on the minimap? I dont remember those. I remember crafting allowing you to create armour, weapons, clothing, food, drink, skill sigils and item sigils, though.
Comments
and thanks for "totally agreeing" with me :-)
I'm confused. Why do you keep mentioning Aion? Noone has said a word about Aion in this discussion.
Currently playing: Star Wars: The Old Republic, World of Warcraft, Dota 2, League of Legends
Waiting on: Blade & Soul, Guild Wars 2, Tera, Kingdoms of Amular, Firefall
read me.. then u know
aion is an example for a game.. which i claimed to be "good",
it has also good marketing, it WILL make its way..
i used it for beeing the EXAMPLE of what a company can do.
they give u a game, they make nice visuals, they do advertisements..
but in fact.. some other game, which "failed".. can do MORE for you, then the expensive other game project..
thats why i mentioned e.g. aion. but i also mentioned other games as well.
many actual games throw you inside the game for the usual "what now, what the hell am i doin here, and (!) why" effect.
so i hope, now you understand why i mention some other games like aion.
btw: it runs great on windows seven.
u can use gameguard from another w7able game,
therefore simply remove gameguard from gamedir, and replace with the one from the other game (e.g. said aion)
1st time starting it will show the logo of the old game.. from now on it loads right des(cription) and icon from spellborn.
(or email me for the little zip: xbotseven[at]gmail[dot]com)
cheers!°
annd.. though using the older unreal engine.. some parts of the game look more interesting then some games using newer engines
1. We don't have the numbers so it's hard to make an objective assertion whether most people liked the game or not.
2. Giving distribution rights to two different companies was a HUGE mistake.
3. Blocking IPs pissed a lot of people off. By the time they removed the IP ban it was too late.
4. Marketing based on fanbois alone never works.
5. Graphics were cool, but outdated.
As for my experience, I did not enjoy the game. They kept selling it as the most frigging awesomest thing since slice bread, and it fell flat on its face. Full of FedEx and kill-based quests. Not very many instanced content. Combat was a bit different but at the end of the day it boiled down to the same lame hotbar-click-cooldown system that EVERY MMO out there has -- only this one rotates. Their self-created lore and back story was interesting, to be sure, but not really enough to get me hooked on the game. I was very disappointed, to be honest. I was following this games development for about a year and all along I had the sneaking suspicion that it was going to fail before it even started -- and my suspicions were proven true once I tried beta.
You are so right. With only a good game you cant make it in mmorpgland. You ll need good management and marketing. They pretty much sucked at that.
I really enjoyed the game. The combat system and lore were great and the community was really helpful. Its a pity how such a great game can end this way
This was the funniest part to me, skills had nothing to do in this game, it was all about what class you chose, imbalance was such a HUGE issue in this game, never seen anything like it in the past.
It's free why not try it out?
It's a smaller download than patching some games that are out there (cough AoC)
--
The skill deck is deeper than people make it out to be.
Nearly all MMOs I've played give you a power/endurance/pool
that is used to control power usage. This one is timer and
bar placement based. It's defintely more than a rotating hotbar.
It's also setup so you can do combos easier.
I beta tested Spellborn, was really looking forward to it. I was a real fanboi prior to release. Some of you may remember I had a Spellborn signature during that time.
Well the game sucks big time. It's a WoW clone, a completely task driven linear experience modeled design after WoW with stupid unrealistic icons floating over NPCs heads and glows and arrows on the minimaps to hold your hand and show you where to go next.
The PVP had no real risk vs reward so became fairly meaningless except to frustrate other players and the death penalty overall was insignificant, ruining both immersion and gameplay by not offering realistic consequences for ones actions.
In addition, there is no real crafting in the game. Sigils are bonuses which can be added to items by NPCs, but players cannot create items to trade themselves and therefore are unable to build a reputation as a crafter which also contributes to a non existant player economy.
I agree with most of what you have to say. To me, however, what did it for me was that they touted and patted themselves in the back to no end was the combat system. Which, to be honest, was different and a little more engaging than your _average_ MMO. However, they created the whole game around it (combat system) and thought they could get away with releasing an otherwise mediocre game based on it. That said, once you got the gist and nuance of it, it became nothing more than a glorified, rotating hot bar.
Another thing was the fact that they set out to break molds and specifically break the mold of the Holy Trinity of RPGs (Tanks, casters, healers). And they _DID_ break it, but not in the right way. They broke the MMO aspect but they also broke the RPG aspect. And furthermore they put ZERO emphasis on grouping and co-op. You cannot make a Massively Multiplayer game, make grouping irrelevant and hope you're gonna make it.
I played it for a bit.
The game itself seemed ok.
But the engine was total crap. Not sure how you can make the Unreal engine run so badly. I couldn't get past 20fps on any rig I put it on. I'm running SLI on my main, and the game BARELY utilized it at all.
As quoted earlier in thread, there are a ton of F2P out there that are way better.
Arrows and glows on the minimap? I dont remember those. I remember crafting allowing you to create armour, weapons, clothing, food, drink, skill sigils and item sigils, though.