Funcom already did drop the NDA in January for a few days and invited 18 press people around their offices not under NDA to report on how the game is coming along. (including myself :P )
Did they make you sign or agree to a non-disclosure agreement, then release you from the agreement? If not, they didn't drop the NDA. They gave you a press tour.
Dropping the NDA refers to allowing beta testers to discuss their experiences. It does not apply to press junkets. Usually, the point of press tours is to release information to the public through the media.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by TheDoughboy
Originally posted by AmazingAvery
Funcom already did drop the NDA in January for a few days and invited 18 press people around their offices not under NDA to report on how the game is coming along. (including myself :P )
Did they make you sign or agree to a non-disclosure agreement, then release you from the agreement? If not, they didn't drop the NDA. They gave you a press tour.
Dropping the NDA refers to allowing beta testers to discuss their experiences. It does not apply to press junkets. Usually, the point of press tours is to release information to the public through the media.
No one signed anything. There was no NDA on anything they showed us, which was pretty much everything. The competition I won also was a beta invite. You could ask ANY questions, film, record ask anything you wanted. This included many things that were not in beta at that point in time. Was an open door policy. I also had a nice day to myself without no press
You know the be honest i been thinking the same thing to myself for some time now. If this game does fail to be the next best thing. Atleast i would have a new pc that i built for up and coming mmo's out there and for me there is always Aion
FFxi Retired Coh/Cov Retired Guild Wars/Retired WOW/(11-23-04/1-6-07) VSOH/ retired AOC/retired that was fast Waiting 4 DCUO ,and FFXIV
Combat. Melee combat looks ... well nice... But is this game just gonna be about chopping heads as melee and nothing else ? Was watching video of the makers explain the system and tbh the Spell system seems to be very weak. What kinda game can maintain any kinda integrity when it seems to be supporting just one way of playing ?
Heh, you lost me there. Combo system looks like a great MMO innovation, and I am sure the only spellcasting you have seen is the new Spellcrafter screenshots that were released today.
Most of the original tester quit.. And wont buy this game.
Myself included. I wouldnt even try a 14 day trial. This game is really bad.. Its ALL instanced.. PvP has no meaning and is completely unbalanced.. Top it all off with invisable walls EVERYWHERE..
Dead game.
Ouch!
When is release anyway? What else besides AO has FC made, I can't think of any.
Try their website maybe>?
On another note, about the invisible wall thing. Anyone ever heard of walls been put up in a beta game to force the player base thru one area for performance reasons? plus to actually get the focus there? I have.
Why don't we wait for the game to be released eh?
Then all the naysayers with under 10 posts who never contributed to the community nor the beta nor ever provided any constructive crititism here can simply troll another forum?
There were invisible walls setup on beta so the devs can funnel players into the areas that need to be tested. They have removed some walls that were existing in areas before hand once some testing was done. The devs have said time and time again the land will be vast and open. They believe exploration is an important part in MMO's these days, and they are right. Beta testers have alot of restrictions but they are there to test what needs to be tested, not jumping around forests and climbing mountains to see how high they can go. Hence the invisible walls you people have been reading about. FC is not the first MMO to have Invis walls in place in beta. It is a good thing to use to funnel players where the devs need testing on most. People would be all over the place not doing their jobs basically if they did not have some restrictions on where to go at the moment. Only areas that MIGHT be linear is tortage but that is not a bad thing. Having a path to follow on your learning trail is a good way to get you engaged into what they feel fit right away to keep you engaged and learning. my opinion anyways.
Avery- I appreciate your posts for the most part, but writing things in large font does not make it sound more convincing.
I would like to know, however, is this the official response from FunCom to the invisible walls furore, or is this your opinion? Are you writing on the basis of assumptions or experience, or direct instructions, here? I am never too sure. I hope you are correct, but I am left unclear as to the status of your posts.
juste one thing to say, im in the beta since many month, and I will play this game. that it
Been reading this post and making some judgements of my own, but I just have to say that some of the posters need to slow down and try to write something that at least attempts to seem legible and intelligent. You guys have it in you, I know you can do it.
That being said, I'm going to side with Avery on this. I am staying positive about AoC till I see it for myself. I have absolutely no faith in anyone that breaks NDA. A contract is a contract, you break it on purpose you can't be believed or trusted.
I love it when "i quit the beta" starts to replace 'I got thrown out of beta for not doing what I agreed to do in the first place', that should probably tell you something. lol
* Life is not black or white, it's shades of grey. But, at it's best/worst, it hints at 32bit color. -Me (a.k.a. RuthlessTimes)
* I do not need to know how to make a better game than you. I just need to know how to cancel my subscription. -Antarious(a slight misquote but the sentiment remains)
I love it when "i quit the beta" starts to replace 'I got thrown out of beta for not doing what I agreed to do in the first place', that should probably tell you something. lol
I am not sure if you can be thrown out of beta. I was in beta since last summer and only logged on once before yesterday and my account still worked.
About the game, the animations seem nice, the combat seems fluid, the combat system seems innovative for an MMO (feels more like a dynasty warrior/fighting game I guess). The first 13 levels are 100% single player basically, then you need to get to level 15 to continue the single player story line I guess, I am only level 14 though. It does seem a lot more linear than I like, and I have always preferred non instanced dungeons and forced grouping down in a dangerous cave single pulling mobs for long periods of time, but whatever.
I really don't have much information about the game, only played for 4-5 hours so far but it is worth trying I would say. I told a friend of mine to download the client so he could test it out to see if it is a game we want to play. I am on the FFA pvp server atm, but still haven't pvped yet.
Some things I am interested in knowing but can't seem to find answers to is- pvp titles, alternate experience, focus on raiding, solo or group emphasis, realm experience (pvp experience for special abilities and such).
Other things are pretty cool, swearing in the quest chat, very seductive women with big jiggly boobs that want sex (too bad your character is too busy saving the world), naked women (might be a bug I heard), blood splattering on your screen when you perform a fatality (random I guess). Some of the items I saw had manasteal and lifesteal which seems sweet. There are also 3 talent trees, one for your general class (priest for me as a bear shaman), then two specialized ones for your specific class. I also like how when you swing a weapon it hits mobs surrounding you, every attack is an AE attack basically. Spell weaving is not in the game atm.
Yeah so, the only other beta I have been in was vanguard and that broke my heart and made me cynical about MMOs. Maybe I have just outgrown them. I did play DAoC last fall though and loved it, so I am looking forward to WAR.
Thats your first post, wtf...You Sir are a complete asshat. unbelievable.
Yes its only my 15th in 4 years, but i rarely see something so asinine that I feel compelled to post.
i promise that you can be thrown out of beta, and doing things like that are exactly how it happens.
if only there was a system in place for getting people's spots in betas when they break NDA. i saw some guy on here the other day that had a forum sig talking about what betas he was in...
I really dont know what to think atm. What I have seen so far is making me really wonder if anyone can pull of what FC is up to atm. I've looked at pretty much every video out there and scanned the websites. Videos look nice but half of the time even in demenstration the servers crash. Now.. after seeing the AO servers failing for the first few months that just CAN'T be a good sign. No of the content I've seen so far is MMO content. Its all one person walking, running or riding around. That doesn't sound pormising to me. Recomended rig... Now. PPL can say whatever they like but those that play MMOs know how much FPS and no lag matters. So are we seeing a game that will be running over 20fps with 40 ppl in same area? And do you need PC from Nasa for that ? And it must eat up memory and have long time loading screens. Graphics. Look great but how many bad paths and holes will it create? My guess is alot. And I mean ALOT. HOw fun will it be to fight mobs that run away from you to be able to get to you ? I think we will see alot of those and even more of where players become stuck cause of enviroment issues. Combat. Melee combat looks ... well nice... But is this game just gonna be about chopping heads as melee and nothing else ? Was watching video of the makers explain the system and tbh the Spell system seems to be very weak. What kinda game can maintain any kinda integrity when it seems to be supporting just one way of playing ? How good of a launch can this game throw out. Considering the lenght it has been in development it has to be very very smooth now so it should be great. But ... will it really ? There are huge names behind this game but is that enough ? I'm really not sure. I see this one beeing full of maybes - so many that no normal person should take any chance of Pre-order. My advise. Wait for release. Hope for lift of NDA and lets hear from the testers what has been going on. But if no NDA will be lift then we all know it was bad. I think many are hoping for a good game in AOC. But pretty much everything is telling us it will be.... anything but smooth sailing. But even if it did. Will it ever be a playable MMO with big siege battles and raids ? Can any kinda rig atm handle such groups of players with this kinda graphic? I just can't see it happen.
A comet can strike the earth, aliens can come enslave us all, we can all die in our sleep.....i can wake up with an erection, or not., depends.......I will let u know tomorrow.
I'd like the game to become a nice thing for those who are interested in playing it. But over here on my side, the more members of my huge MMO-guild got beta invites, the more jumped off the bandwagon soon after. After a few weeks of many of us taking part in the beta, its now shure that our guild won't be in for AoC and besides being very established in SWG, Vanguard, WoW, Pirates, EQ2, Lotro and others we will not open up a section for it.
See...and my guild isn't the only one doing so, by no means. There is for shure more about it than just some haters who as the fanbois in here always imply are a)a minority b)WoW players or c)simply trolls who should get banned. I am not a hater, not playing WoW, even been a big fan myself...but by time, i saw alot of things regarding AoC as they are in fact -rather than how Funcom would like us to see them.
So it's perhaps not the biggest flop, but it'll turn out being pretty much a major disappointment for alot of fans, gamers and last but not least the ' veterans' of the genre expecting the freedom, innovations and higher standards of a next generation MMO. Because in no way AoC is bringing anything to the table that would justify the immoderate hype.
Not saying that in generall AoC will be a bad game...many don't give alot on crafting and roleplay nowadays anymore, nudity and gore always finds it's audience and Guild Wars became a success with restricted environment plus zoning left and right, too.
So it won't be a flop, but it's far from being the major hit Funcom wants to sell to us.
Maybe the question should be. What would make AOC succsessfull and how bad will it need to be to be a flop ?
Personally - I now look at games as flop if they can not deliver a game in terms of relitivly bugfree through all the content.
In terms of a good launch it has to have the following as MMO game
Bug "free"
Running smooth (constant fps)
Stable servers
Balanced gamplay
Good grouping up system
Good and polished endgame content.
How many of these AOC will deliver ? Not sure - but I somehow think alot will be wrong in the first few months. And like someone mentioned before here - leaving out features might well be the case for this one. But what features? Endgame comes to mind. And tbh that IS what MMO games are about these days.
Graphics have been hyped up but I wonder if game will have promised features there. How will dx9 and dx10 work out?
Maybe the question should be. What would make AOC succsessfull and how bad will it need to be to be a flop ? Personally - I now look at games as flop if they can not deliver a game in terms of relitivly bugfree through all the content. In terms of a good launch it has to have the following as MMO game Bug "free"
Running smooth (constant fps)
Stable servers
Balanced gamplay
Good grouping up system
Good and polished endgame content. How many of these AOC will deliver ? Not sure - but I somehow think alot will be wrong in the first few months. And like someone mentioned before here - leaving out features might well be the case for this one. But what features? Endgame comes to mind. And tbh that IS what MMO games are about these days. Graphics have been hyped up but I wonder if game will have promised features there. How will dx9 and dx10 work out?
Before I begin...I'm not an AoC fan and I'm likely not buying it. That said, I'm also a fairly unbiased person and intend to approach your points with that in mind.
Bug "free' - No MMO needs to have a bug free release. However...in order to draw the WoW players they WILL need to have very un-bugged major content lines. By un-bugged...understand I mean major bugs. Like...quests working, no insane crashing or gamebreaking loot bugs. Side quests...and secluded content, won't need to be as polished. PLayers will need at least one or two major routes to level to cap on and it needs to be smooth.
Running Smooth - That goes without saying....if players cannot play the game due to the connection bottoming out they will leave.
Stable servers - Same as above...though history has proven that players will be forgiving of server issues caused by having tons more players than you expected.
Balanced Gameplay - Not true. First, there is no such thing. Second, all players are really worried about is FUN gameplay. Now after everyone gets to cap and starts PvPing hardcore...you'll hear the same old same old nerf/buff posts you do in ANY game/ But so long as the trip was fun...players will both buy the game and level to cap before quitting.
Good grouping system- Its not that hard to make. CoH has one...and if they aren't able to replicate THAT they could just kindly ask the Call to Arms guys how they did theirs.
Good endgame - All it takes for this is to make sure their PvP endgame (which is what they are supposed to be about) is solid. If the PvE stuff is lacking...thats okay. They will easily survive this...hell the raiders will probably enjoy the initial difficulty.
Biggest Flop, I think not.... take a look at SOE's portfolio lol, but yeh this game has sorta been a disapointment especially for crafters, and the way resources are gathered, but the combat side of the game is certainly interesting.
I see a lot of people with off the shelf PC's complaining about performance. A fair amount of lag, some bugs and a lot of people who will love the game worlds open ended feel. I doubt if it will be as smooth a launch as LoTRO but it won't be as bad as some games launches either. I predict Funcom will overcome the initial issues over time but the game will suffer at launch because of people with $100 USD video cards raising hell because they won't be able to get 60FPS.
However I do see it capturing a good niche and a population of 100K plus, possibly growing over the course of the first year depending on how fast Funcom addresses it's release problems. Because EQII and Vanguard are both graphics intensive I see more of a migration from those games than I do games such as WoW and LoTRO.
I see a mixed reaction to the combat. Some will love the complexity, others will call it slow and clunky.
I agree with JackDog, a few weeks ago when I watched the dungeon crawl video, the first thing that came to mind was all the people with store computers trying to play AoC, Its like " I don't understand I just payed $700 for this computer and it can't play it ". I feel bad for them, a lot of money is gonna be wasted on the consumers end. Putting aside all the bad beta leaks, this game may be a mess anyway.
I have a good computer but I would take lower end graphics to have a larger amount of players. More players= better chance of verity and fun in most cases, I'm also concerned about groups, will it be 3 members will be ok and 2 are crashing or lag ?
AoC or Warhammer I don't care but I'm expecting Warhammer to work out better. If both games are getting a bad rap from beta testers, I'm sure it is much easer to fix just bugs and dull content than revamping the entire game.
Looking into my crystal ball ........... I see a lot of people with off the shelf PC's complaining about performance. A fair amount of lag, some bugs and a lot of people who will love the game worlds open ended feel. I doubt if it will be as smooth a launch as LoTRO but it won't be as bad as some games launches either. I predict Funcom will overcome the initial issues over time but the game will suffer at launch because of people with $100 USD video cards raising hell because they won't be able to get 60FPS. However I do see it capturing a good niche and a population of 100K plus, possibly growing over the course of the first year depending on how fast Funcom addresses it's release problems. Because EQII and Vanguard are both graphics intensive I see more of a migration from those games than I do games such as WoW and LoTRO. I see a mixed reaction to the combat. Some will love the complexity, others will call it slow and clunky. hmmm the crystal ball goes cloudy ........
lol! Jack'
I'll see your 100k+ and raise you another 150k in the fist 3/4's of the first year. Yes, a nice 250k niche but I also see over 1/2 mil copies sold in that time frame. ...Windex does wonders for the all seeing Crystal ball.
Bug Free MMO launches don't exist and they never will.
Your either a fan of the Ip, the game mechanics and/or graphic style, or not. If you are, you'll stick out all the little issues in terms of required patching.
Otherwise, the game isn't for you and realize it never tried to be an everyones MMO. The sys spec's and M rated content just won't allow for a multi-million person player-base.
Then, again, it doesn't have to, when compared to 97.6%(rough guess-timate) of other up and running MMO's. .../shrug
So, will it be a success compared to WoW, nope.
Will it be a success compared to the rest of MMO land, Yep!
* Life is not black or white, it's shades of grey. But, at it's best/worst, it hints at 32bit color. -Me (a.k.a. RuthlessTimes)
* I do not need to know how to make a better game than you. I just need to know how to cancel my subscription. -Antarious(a slight misquote but the sentiment remains)
In terms of MMO I think there is no doubt WAR will be miles ahead. And to be fair... How much does great graphics add to a MMO game ? If Funcom are gonna try to rewrite the MMO genre with more of a single player content to make up for heavy recources put into graphix - then It wont work. But who knows... maybe in 3-4 years AOC will be a good game when PCs become more powerfull. But then.... the same goes for the game engines....
Something tells me the first 30 lvls are gonna be decent at launch but most of the later stages will be broken.
But balance IS gonna be huge factor in this game. Just the fact that Melee is put up as the "fun" factor in the game will always create a danger of very much unblanced gameplay in terms of casters v melee. Thats not good - in terms of PVE content - or in terms of PVP content. (even tho it matters less).
Personally - Im looking for the long term PVE raiding content of this one. SO... I got plenty of time to make up my mind if its worth it to buy ... Specially if you need 2-3 years to even play that content because the pcs of today can't handle it
Comments
juste one thing to say, im in the beta since many month, and I will play this game. that it
Dropping the NDA refers to allowing beta testers to discuss their experiences. It does not apply to press junkets. Usually, the point of press tours is to release information to the public through the media.
Dropping the NDA refers to allowing beta testers to discuss their experiences. It does not apply to press junkets. Usually, the point of press tours is to release information to the public through the media.
No one signed anything. There was no NDA on anything they showed us, which was pretty much everything. The competition I won also was a beta invite. You could ask ANY questions, film, record ask anything you wanted. This included many things that were not in beta at that point in time. Was an open door policy. I also had a nice day to myself without no press
You know the be honest i been thinking the same thing to myself for some time now. If this game does fail to be the next best thing. Atleast i would have a new pc that i built for up and coming mmo's out there and for me there is always Aion
FFxi Retired
Coh/Cov Retired
Guild Wars/Retired
WOW/(11-23-04/1-6-07)
VSOH/ retired
AOC/retired that was fast
Waiting 4 DCUO ,and FFXIV
Heh, you lost me there. Combo system looks like a great MMO innovation, and I am sure the only spellcasting you have seen is the new Spellcrafter screenshots that were released today.
When is release anyway? What else besides AO has FC made, I can't think of any.
Try their website maybe>?
On another note, about the invisible wall thing. Anyone ever heard of walls been put up in a beta game to force the player base thru one area for performance reasons? plus to actually get the focus there? I have.
Why don't we wait for the game to be released eh?
Then all the naysayers with under 10 posts who never contributed to the community nor the beta nor ever provided any constructive crititism here can simply troll another forum?
There were invisible walls setup on beta so the devs can funnel players into the areas that need to be tested. They have removed some walls that were existing in areas before hand once some testing was done. The devs have said time and time again the land will be vast and open. They believe exploration is an important part in MMO's these days, and they are right. Beta testers have alot of restrictions but they are there to test what needs to be tested, not jumping around forests and climbing mountains to see how high they can go. Hence the invisible walls you people have been reading about. FC is not the first MMO to have Invis walls in place in beta. It is a good thing to use to funnel players where the devs need testing on most. People would be all over the place not doing their jobs basically if they did not have some restrictions on where to go at the moment. Only areas that MIGHT be linear is tortage but that is not a bad thing. Having a path to follow on your learning trail is a good way to get you engaged into what they feel fit right away to keep you engaged and learning. my opinion anyways.
Avery- I appreciate your posts for the most part, but writing things in large font does not make it sound more convincing.I would like to know, however, is this the official response from FunCom to the invisible walls furore, or is this your opinion? Are you writing on the basis of assumptions or experience, or direct instructions, here? I am never too sure. I hope you are correct, but I am left unclear as to the status of your posts.
It'll be a flop just like vanguard. Lotta hype, lotta promises, and then everyone gets in it and they're like "WHAAAT?! ..... Unsubscribe".
That being said, I'm going to side with Avery on this. I am staying positive about AoC till I see it for myself. I have absolutely no faith in anyone that breaks NDA. A contract is a contract, you break it on purpose you can't be believed or trusted.
I love it when "i quit the beta" starts to replace 'I got thrown out of beta for not doing what I agreed to do in the first place', that should probably tell you something. lol
* Life is not black or white, it's shades of grey. But, at it's best/worst, it hints at 32bit color. -Me (a.k.a. RuthlessTimes)
* I do not need to know how to make a better game than you. I just need to know how to cancel my subscription. -Antarious(a slight misquote but the sentiment remains)
whoops
About the game, the animations seem nice, the combat seems fluid, the combat system seems innovative for an MMO (feels more like a dynasty warrior/fighting game I guess). The first 13 levels are 100% single player basically, then you need to get to level 15 to continue the single player story line I guess, I am only level 14 though. It does seem a lot more linear than I like, and I have always preferred non instanced dungeons and forced grouping down in a dangerous cave single pulling mobs for long periods of time, but whatever.
I really don't have much information about the game, only played for 4-5 hours so far but it is worth trying I would say. I told a friend of mine to download the client so he could test it out to see if it is a game we want to play. I am on the FFA pvp server atm, but still haven't pvped yet.
Some things I am interested in knowing but can't seem to find answers to is- pvp titles, alternate experience, focus on raiding, solo or group emphasis, realm experience (pvp experience for special abilities and such).
Other things are pretty cool, swearing in the quest chat, very seductive women with big jiggly boobs that want sex (too bad your character is too busy saving the world), naked women (might be a bug I heard), blood splattering on your screen when you perform a fatality (random I guess). Some of the items I saw had manasteal and lifesteal which seems sweet. There are also 3 talent trees, one for your general class (priest for me as a bear shaman), then two specialized ones for your specific class. I also like how when you swing a weapon it hits mobs surrounding you, every attack is an AE attack basically. Spell weaving is not in the game atm.
Yeah so, the only other beta I have been in was vanguard and that broke my heart and made me cynical about MMOs. Maybe I have just outgrown them. I did play DAoC last fall though and loved it, so I am looking forward to WAR.
Thats your first post, wtf...You Sir are a complete asshat. unbelievable.
Yes its only my 15th in 4 years, but i rarely see something so asinine that I feel compelled to post.
yea, no kidding.
i promise that you can be thrown out of beta, and doing things like that are exactly how it happens.
if only there was a system in place for getting people's spots in betas when they break NDA. i saw some guy on here the other day that had a forum sig talking about what betas he was in...
A comet can strike the earth, aliens can come enslave us all, we can all die in our sleep.....i can wake up with an erection, or not., depends.......I will let u know tomorrow.
messed up
I'd like the game to become a nice thing for those who are interested in playing it. But over here on my side, the more members of my huge MMO-guild got beta invites, the more jumped off the bandwagon soon after. After a few weeks of many of us taking part in the beta, its now shure that our guild won't be in for AoC and besides being very established in SWG, Vanguard, WoW, Pirates, EQ2, Lotro and others we will not open up a section for it.
See...and my guild isn't the only one doing so, by no means. There is for shure more about it than just some haters who as the fanbois in here always imply are a)a minority b)WoW players or c)simply trolls who should get banned. I am not a hater, not playing WoW, even been a big fan myself...but by time, i saw alot of things regarding AoC as they are in fact -rather than how Funcom would like us to see them.
So it's perhaps not the biggest flop, but it'll turn out being pretty much a major disappointment for alot of fans, gamers and last but not least the ' veterans' of the genre expecting the freedom, innovations and higher standards of a next generation MMO. Because in no way AoC is bringing anything to the table that would justify the immoderate hype.
Not saying that in generall AoC will be a bad game...many don't give alot on crafting and roleplay nowadays anymore, nudity and gore always finds it's audience and Guild Wars became a success with restricted environment plus zoning left and right, too.
So it won't be a flop, but it's far from being the major hit Funcom wants to sell to us.
Sure, the biggest flop is incoming for sure but it ain't AoC.
Maybe the question should be. What would make AOC succsessfull and how bad will it need to be to be a flop ?
Personally - I now look at games as flop if they can not deliver a game in terms of relitivly bugfree through all the content.
In terms of a good launch it has to have the following as MMO game
Bug "free"
Running smooth (constant fps)
Stable servers
Balanced gamplay
Good grouping up system
Good and polished endgame content.
How many of these AOC will deliver ? Not sure - but I somehow think alot will be wrong in the first few months. And like someone mentioned before here - leaving out features might well be the case for this one. But what features? Endgame comes to mind. And tbh that IS what MMO games are about these days.
Graphics have been hyped up but I wonder if game will have promised features there. How will dx9 and dx10 work out?
No one should expect AoC to be bugfree at lunch.
That would be just wrong.
If you want a bug free AoC, don't buy it right away but wait a month or two.
No game is bugfree on lunch.
The amount of misinformation and stupidity in this (and other) threads is astonishing.
Bug "free' - No MMO needs to have a bug free release. However...in order to draw the WoW players they WILL need to have very un-bugged major content lines. By un-bugged...understand I mean major bugs. Like...quests working, no insane crashing or gamebreaking loot bugs. Side quests...and secluded content, won't need to be as polished. PLayers will need at least one or two major routes to level to cap on and it needs to be smooth.
Running Smooth - That goes without saying....if players cannot play the game due to the connection bottoming out they will leave.
Stable servers - Same as above...though history has proven that players will be forgiving of server issues caused by having tons more players than you expected.
Balanced Gameplay - Not true. First, there is no such thing. Second, all players are really worried about is FUN gameplay. Now after everyone gets to cap and starts PvPing hardcore...you'll hear the same old same old nerf/buff posts you do in ANY game/ But so long as the trip was fun...players will both buy the game and level to cap before quitting.
Good grouping system- Its not that hard to make. CoH has one...and if they aren't able to replicate THAT they could just kindly ask the Call to Arms guys how they did theirs.
Good endgame - All it takes for this is to make sure their PvP endgame (which is what they are supposed to be about) is solid. If the PvE stuff is lacking...thats okay. They will easily survive this...hell the raiders will probably enjoy the initial difficulty.
Biggest Flop, I think not.... take a look at SOE's portfolio lol, but yeh this game has sorta been a disapointment especially for crafters, and the way resources are gathered, but the combat side of the game is certainly interesting.
Looking into my crystal ball ...........
I see a lot of people with off the shelf PC's complaining about performance. A fair amount of lag, some bugs and a lot of people who will love the game worlds open ended feel. I doubt if it will be as smooth a launch as LoTRO but it won't be as bad as some games launches either. I predict Funcom will overcome the initial issues over time but the game will suffer at launch because of people with $100 USD video cards raising hell because they won't be able to get 60FPS.
However I do see it capturing a good niche and a population of 100K plus, possibly growing over the course of the first year depending on how fast Funcom addresses it's release problems. Because EQII and Vanguard are both graphics intensive I see more of a migration from those games than I do games such as WoW and LoTRO.
I see a mixed reaction to the combat. Some will love the complexity, others will call it slow and clunky.
hmmm the crystal ball goes cloudy ........
I miss DAoC
I agree with JackDog, a few weeks ago when I watched the dungeon crawl video, the first thing that came to mind was all the people with store computers trying to play AoC, Its like " I don't understand I just payed $700 for this computer and it can't play it ". I feel bad for them, a lot of money is gonna be wasted on the consumers end. Putting aside all the bad beta leaks, this game may be a mess anyway.
I have a good computer but I would take lower end graphics to have a larger amount of players. More players= better chance of verity and fun in most cases, I'm also concerned about groups, will it be 3 members will be ok and 2 are crashing or lag ?
AoC or Warhammer I don't care but I'm expecting Warhammer to work out better. If both games are getting a bad rap from beta testers, I'm sure it is much easer to fix just bugs and dull content than revamping the entire game.
lol! Jack'
I'll see your 100k+ and raise you another 150k in the fist 3/4's of the first year. Yes, a nice 250k niche but I also see over 1/2 mil copies sold in that time frame. ...Windex does wonders for the all seeing Crystal ball.
Bug Free MMO launches don't exist and they never will.
Your either a fan of the Ip, the game mechanics and/or graphic style, or not. If you are, you'll stick out all the little issues in terms of required patching.
Otherwise, the game isn't for you and realize it never tried to be an everyones MMO. The sys spec's and M rated content just won't allow for a multi-million person player-base.
Then, again, it doesn't have to, when compared to 97.6%(rough guess-timate) of other up and running MMO's. .../shrug
So, will it be a success compared to WoW, nope.
Will it be a success compared to the rest of MMO land, Yep!
* Life is not black or white, it's shades of grey. But, at it's best/worst, it hints at 32bit color. -Me (a.k.a. RuthlessTimes)
* I do not need to know how to make a better game than you. I just need to know how to cancel my subscription. -Antarious(a slight misquote but the sentiment remains)
In terms of MMO I think there is no doubt WAR will be miles ahead. And to be fair... How much does great graphics add to a MMO game ? If Funcom are gonna try to rewrite the MMO genre with more of a single player content to make up for heavy recources put into graphix - then It wont work. But who knows... maybe in 3-4 years AOC will be a good game when PCs become more powerfull. But then.... the same goes for the game engines....
Something tells me the first 30 lvls are gonna be decent at launch but most of the later stages will be broken.
But balance IS gonna be huge factor in this game. Just the fact that Melee is put up as the "fun" factor in the game will always create a danger of very much unblanced gameplay in terms of casters v melee. Thats not good - in terms of PVE content - or in terms of PVP content. (even tho it matters less).
Personally - Im looking for the long term PVE raiding content of this one. SO... I got plenty of time to make up my mind if its worth it to buy ... Specially if you need 2-3 years to even play that content because the pcs of today can't handle it