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Thoughts on whether or not GoD will bring people back...
I played in the Lineage 2 beta, and just as I did back then, I still consider it to be a deep and interesting game. Yes, it gets a little grindy (though let me tell you, after having toyed around with it for a bit in the recent past when I got ahold of a trial key, it is far less grindy now than it was) but ultimately, its incredibly well made, has a nearly seamless world, graphics that are still better than Id say 75% of the other MMOs currently running (stuff like AoC and Aion put it to shame, but what do you expect, it was released almost a decade ago!)... All in all, I think its a fair assessment to say that I like this game, and think it to be quite cool.
However, as it is with many MMOs, L2 needs a solid community base to keep it going, and with all the new MMOs that released over the past two years and are slated for release this year and next, the question in my mind is whether or not (despite GoD) L2 will be able to sustain itself by keeping a loyal chunk of the genre's customer base.
I am a tad worried that this gem of a game may fall by the wayside (though I will admit that I am one of the many who are salivating at the chance to play GW2).
I, personally, will likely resub to L2 when GoD releases to see the changes and dive back into what I consider to be one of the best made MMOs to date, but I fear it may be doomed, even though it had a great run.
Anyhow, im curious to see what others think.
Will GoD attract and hold customers (most notably, enough to sustain the game for awhile longer) to L2? Maybe bring back some veterans while simultaneously attracting new interest?
What do you guys think?
Comments
I dont know if GoD will bring people back but I dont see Lineage 2 going anywhere because there is nonthing out like it and there is nonthing comming out like it. I have played everyting out there Pay To Play and Free To Play and I can tell you that there is no substitute for this game. The Lineage 2 population now mainly consist of the loyal and faithful that feel the same way I do.
GoD looks like more then an expansion. It looks like a Lineage 2.5 and I am really looking foward to it. Everything I wish Lineage 2 had is comming in GoD. I must say that I am also looking foward to games like Guild Wars 2, Blade and Soul and Tera but I am not going to quit Lineage 2. I will be playing Lineage 2 until they pull the plug but I hope by then Lineage 3 will be out or on the way.
Yea, I feel like the loyal few have kept this game running (also, NCsoft made millions in Korea with it and Aion, so its not like theyre hurting for cash and facing insolvancy if the game dosent turn record numbers here in the west...)
Insofar as ive read/heard, GoD was initially slated to be Lineage 3, but instead just got pushed together as part of Lineage 2 (L2.5 is a fairly accurate description I think).
I dunno. Like I said, this is a great game, and I will likely play again when GoD releases
. Im just hoping that others will as well.
I have been playing L2 since prelude.....over 7 years ago, & it is still the only mmo I play.
I have tried other mmo's but nothing has the same feel as L2.
Anyway.....as far as the new update goes, im sure it will bring some people back & some new players too,
but the problem is going to be the attitute of alot of the old time "think they are soo uber know it alls"
Alot of the higher lvl population really does not want new people to start playing because they have a
track record of just bashing them to pieces, in game & on the forums for being nothing more than just N00bs.
The new players eventually get tired of it & nobody helping them & they leave.
Not all clans are that way....some are helpfull to new players, it just depends on if the new players can find good
people to hook up with I guess.
I am a leader in a pve clan "Ivory Knights" if you are more into pvp then you would not be a good fit for us
but if you are more into pve & looking for a good clan that helps new players, you can check us out.
http://ivoryknights.freeforums.org/
GoD will do nothing for the population, don't even try kidding yourselves.
If L2 chooses to continue to run gameguard - it will drive the masses away. The older the operating system, the less gameguard errors... the gaming masses arent going to load WIN XP to play... and have fun trying to play with vista 64 or win 7.
Additionally, there is absolutely no online database to help with gameplay.... everything is old and dead. You think someone who is used to wowhead where they can look up any item, where it drops, the % it drops, the cost to buy it, what it looks like, what its used for, etc etc.... is going to migrate to an old game that you just have to figure it out on your own? Not a chance.
Sorry I'm a bit bitter after 7 hours of trying to get past GG on my desktop pc.... great game with zero support.
I've played L2 since C2 in 2005 and started on official servers with C4 in may 2006. I've taken a break here and there to try other MMO's, but I keep returning to L2 (see left of this post in my comment).
It is as Mannish says. There's nothing like Lineage II out there. A few games used to come close to it, but nothing really as exciting as Lineage II though.
About GoD. I think this will do some good for the population, but also some bad. Good because the game will become more simplified at 85+ with less classes and more balancing (did we really need that in L2 anyway?) so that players of other MMO's can get the feeling they're used to, having few classes (Aion and WoW come to mind). But this is also what might scare the old population a bit. A lot of special classes will become generic. Take my Maestro for example. I'm no longer special since every char can craft R-Grade items, and all dwarfs will be able to craft anyway, so what will become of the Maestro then? I know clanbuffer (hey, wasn't that the Overlord class?). Things will be screwed up for a lot of old players and they gotta 'learn' to play their class again...
Personally I think GoD will be a blessing to the game. Oh yeah, the diversity will change, but for me as Maestro, the game gets more and more interesting. Coming from C2 where Warsmith the one class that you had to put a LOT OF LOVE in to level to what it's now and will become, my game-play experience will only grow
works perfect on win 7
I hope that it brings more ppl, L2 is the best mmo we have atm (imo)
Well honestly I dunno how much time I would put into L2 Ncsoft has gotten the bad rep now of shutting down alot of mmogs worse than EA was I think they do not realize how many people that worries knowing how many games they have shut down /most ppl wont invest time in any game from a company who gets the rep of killing off games .
Because they shut down the western version of Lineage? I am suprised the game lasted as long as it did. If people join a mmo thinking it will last forever then they are stupid.
L2 works just fine on Windows 7.
I run it on Windows 7 64 bit just fine.
You just have to setup lineage 2 to run with admin rights.
I decided to play lineage 2 again from scratch. Total played time was 8 hours this past weekend and with the EXP bonus event and the GM Buffing event, I was able to reach level 36 as an elf scout. At first, level 1-13, I only saw about 1 other person. I immediately went to Giran and got into an academy because I was worried that there was no one playing this game. To my surprise, Giran was packed! The guild members were awesome and they were more than helpful. I assure you that this game is very much alive and doing well. I teleported to Oren, Hunters village and other towns and it was packed with people.
As a player who quit before C1 released (level 56 DA). I am pleased to see that there are a ton of people still playing this game. I was able to even join a party in the Ant's Nest which was exciting. I didn't see any bots, farmers, or hackers and it was so nice to see open areas available to me.
I came back to play because of GoD and I'm definitely going to stick around as long as possible. So far, the community and the guild I'm in has been excellent and the game is still beautiful. If you're on the fence about playing the game again, I definitely encourage anyone to play again. If you need an academy or guild just shoot me a PM and I'll hook you up in the one I'm in. I'm on Chronos server so make one there! Oh, and for those who are worried about partying or soloing. I was able to solo to level 36 so it should be fine.
I forgot to point out that the grind still does exist with supplemental quests to help boost your morale during the grind. However, the grind is so much more forgiving with the supplemental buffs given from NPCs in the major towns and it seems like the rates have been drastically modified to improve and shorten the grind.
The game has changed a lot for me. I don't remember prior to C1 there being any quests (except for class changes), party search features, map indicator notifications, pets, mounts or all the unique little items (music stones) in the lineage world. I still don't know what fantasy isle is for but I will eventually. So much has changed and there is so much to adventure. I'm gonna try to get my friends to play so I can party with them. Hahaha.
I think L2 should just go F2P, it would be more successful as has been evident with the massive private server community. If anything they could keep the two servers like their are and simply launch a new F2P server with F2P bonuses like experience charms and blessed resurrection scrolls.
Obviously NCSOFT would never go this route. They have too much pride in their AAA titles. They would rather scrap games like Dungeon Runners and Auto Assault without giving them a fair shake in the F2P market.
@jeffxsee
Glad to see that you are enjoying the game. I am so tired of people saying this game is dead just because it has 2 servers now. The 2 servers are full of life so the game is not dead.
@FastTX
I use to be against FTP but I think it something that NC Soft should consider for the Western Version. I would just like to see a new FTP method because I am not a fan of the way its done in games like Lord Of The Rings and Dungeons and Dragons.
I fear that NCSoft rather kills L2 for the Western market than make it F2P... Though CoX does go F2P, and perhaps if this 'experiment' will work out, perhaps L2 for the Western market might go that way too (I hope that they won't rape the game then).
About the huge amount of private servers for L2... I think it's save to say that L2 is the most successfull MMO of all time, even more than WoW is. If only half of the players that were on those private servers would go to retail, than I'm sure we're have 20 servers not at least.
Though most players of private server won't come because of the 'grind', I have to disagree with them. Yes, leveling goes slower indeed than on privates, but with things like Double XP weeks (3 times in the last 2 months), vitality items and other stuff like that, the grind is less tendious than it was up to C4.
Also, The old SEA L2 servers had standard 2x rate compared to Korean and Western servers. What's agains for NCSoft to make a new server on 2x or even 3x rates? Korean servers have this too, and limit the amount of time played on them (the so called casual servers).
http://www.lineage2.com/gd/
godess of destruction could be a nice update!but as i recall ncsoft had huge problem going from korean to say english
not the langage but the program.everything was writen for say korean version of various program like direct x etc
and when they tried to go from the korean version of various program they use to english they never achieved it ton of bug
lag issue that werent present on korean version became an issue on non-korean version.maybe they bothered to update their program in their server and updated also l2 we ll have to wait and see when godess of destruction is released
i sure hope they fixed the programming issue and the server program issue for non-korean.cause it is indead a good game
if you arent sure try the korean server if you can it prob is still packed with player
was huge here too for a while but the game never went from korean to other programming langage smoothly they always forgot this or that,and that made the game unplayable in the end!i sure hope they corrected this and not just translate the text cause if they just translated the text ,might as well not release the update .
I really like Lineage 2, but haven't played for a while. But let me say this much. I have to agree with you on the GG part as well as the support issues and compatibility. Like I said, I don't play Lineage 2 right now, but what I didn't mention is, I tried to start playing again a little while back, but because of issues with the game running coupled with the inability of a GM to reset the password on the right accounts I just gave up. I mean, it was pretty bad. I gave him all the info and then he would reset a different one of my accounts, then say sorry, and then reset another account I had, but then not the other. Finally I just gave up, because I wanted all my accounts up if I was going to play again. When I have to spend several days to play a game, its just not worth it.
i'm actually a first time player and im playing right now in anticipation of GoD. /shrug
oh, and im playing win7 ultimate.
oh, and while you're right someone that needs wowhead to play wow is not going to like this game, there are a number of fanbased wikis out there.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
ya, gahd, NCsofts account management system is really overly complex. i had the same, except longer experience trying to get into my old GW account.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
This new update will of course attract some old players but also it will scare some vets. To make this game successful again they need to make it free to play. This is only chance no new updates wont save it. Look at L2.ru its 12+ servers are packed with people. Can you imagine what would happen if they would make it f2p? They would have to make 20+ servers to handle all the players comming to the game including me. Its the only chance for this game to get alive again cant see other option there
I totally agree on the Free To Play. Its something the should now be considering. Like I said I dont see the game surviving the releases of Tera, Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars next year.
Well... Lets hope they're going to realize that before game is dead. *Cross fingers* I really wouldint want to see NA/EU servers gone
+1 on the f2p..its a outdated game now and imo i think most of the subs are / were gold farming bots ...it was a huge turnoff to me at the time when the pop was slowing down..so i quit