EA and Funcom I think that says enough about this game.
EA+Anything usually ruins that devoloper, look at bioware as a prime example.
I thought they did great at ME2?
People with a grudge against EA will usually ignore such examples and pretend DAoC and ME and ME2 don't exist or were really bad for the sake of making their claim.
i am looking forward to TSW .what i dont understand is some of the annimosity against funcom.yeah they screwed up with AOC,everyone knows that..but that is one game against a few ,the rest that i know or heard of were good.everyone is entitled to their opinion but for me even after AOC i,m gonna check this game out..nothing i've bought in the last 3yrs has been good and that includes the most recent addition swtor.so has they say 'Bring it on'
Well, Funcom basically invented instancing in Anarchy online... That puts a big black mark on them in my mind. The fact that they followed the idea with AoC's dreadful channels or whatever they're called does not help at all.
So far, their track record is "sacrifice mmo aspects for flashy gfx which can compete in promo pics with srpgs." But I'm giving them benefit of doubt. If TSW is heavily instanced or phased I'm giving it a miss, no matter how much I like the rest they have to offer.
Those devs really have to decide whether they're creating a CORPG or MMORPG and declare their game as such. Given what's going on with EA's SW:TOR, my optimism sinks even lower. But as I said, it might turn out to be great IF they make it a proper MMO that feels like a world and not a series of tunnels, don't go too greedy with their monetization and release relatively bug-free... which is a lot to ask from EA/FC combo, but hey, stranger things have been known to happen.
Well, Funcom basically invented instancing in Anarchy online... That puts a big black mark on them in my mind. The fact that they followed the idea with AoC's dreadful channels or whatever they're called does not help at all.
It's funny how little there really was in that game, because in most circumstances, moving area to area is called "zoning", and contingent with plenty of other players. It had instancing in the same way CoH had, and both were considered genius until the word 'instances' because a scapegoat for everything wrong in the industry today.
Tomorrow, I expect VO to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, after that, color qualities on gear (again)...
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4 Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
You dudes really dont want to make me your enemy NUmber one because Im home all day and I have nothing better to do... I can lurk on the Funcom forums and on these and just keep making example after example of the FAIL that this company is.. and how they treat its customers...
ps this post is for the people saying everything is just fine with AOC these days 4 years after its release.. and Im telling you ITS NOT.. and its dying fast.. and TSW wont be anny better...
And for me to admit I would rather play SW.TOR.. because the single player experince is atleast working in that game IS "HUGHE" and would give added wieght to my arguments.. because everyone knows how much I dislike that game... and ITS MUCH BETTER THEN ANYTHING FUNCOM WILL EVER MAKE...
Well, first of all... The Longest Journey is one of my all-time favorite games, so its designer, Ragnar Tørnquist, has a lot of credit with me. I'd buy The Secret World even if I didn't enjoy Anarchy Online or Age of Conan at all, just due to that credit - as a show of gratitude to Ragnar...
And you know what? I did like Anarchy Online a lot back when. And Age of Conan isn't that bad these days.
Now, I was in the beta for both those Funcom MMOs, and I do know they tend to launch rough games. But generally I like their game design and, they have this habit of daring to walk a bit off the beaten path, which I appreciate even if they botch stuff at first... And another thing that's very important to me in MMOs: They do nail the atmosphere in their games like few others can. From what I've seen of The Secret World, again, the atmosphere seems to be thick in that game. And I'm digging the modern supernatural setting - I always have (come on, CCP, hurry up with WOD!).
I wouldn't be really surprised if we get another rough launch, but I can play through it as long as the game at its core is exciting.
You dudes really dont want to make me your enemy NUmber one because Im home all day and I have nothing better to do... I can lurk on the Funcom forums and on these and just keep making example after example of the FAIL that this company is.. and how they treat its customers...
A job or woman is 100x more satisfying than all that.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4 Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
You dudes really dont want to make me your enemy NUmber one because Im home all day and I have nothing better to do... I can lurk on the Funcom forums and on these and just keep making example after example of the FAIL that this company is.. and how they treat its customers...
I'm not trying to make fun of you, but the above makes you sound... really lame. And that's sad because your terribly communicated message may simply be a misguided attempt at trying to warn others about a legitimate concern.
You'll catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Just saying.
As for Funcom, I'm willing to check out what they can do and respect them just for the fact that they dare to try something different instead of offering another flash in the pan shallow copy of the mediocrity that seems to appeal to the masses so much.
Why do I write, create, fantasize, dream and daydream about other worlds? Because I hate what humanity does with this one.
You dudes really dont want to make me your enemy NUmber one because Im home all day and I have nothing better to do... I can lurk on the Funcom forums and on these and just keep making example after example of the FAIL that this company is.. and how they treat its customers...
I'm not trying to make fun of you, but the above makes you sound... really lame. And that's sad because your terribly communicated message may simply be a misguided attempt at trying to warn others about a legitimate concern.
You'll catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Just saying.
As for Funcom, I'm willing to check out what they can do and respect them just for the fact that they dare to try something different instead of offering another flash in the pan shallow copy of the mediocrity that seems to appeal to the masses so much.
Might have gone a little overboard but.. when people are calling me a liar and saying im full of BS I get upset, and all the links I made shows that Im telling the truth about AOC.. its still buggy, its still crap even 4 years after release... And Im dead tired of these companies trying to just shove it down our throats and expect us to take it...
Well, Funcom basically invented instancing in Anarchy online... That puts a big black mark on them in my mind. The fact that they followed the idea with AoC's dreadful channels or whatever they're called does not help at all.
It's funny how little there really was in that game, because in most circumstances, moving area to area is called "zoning", and contingent with plenty of other players. It had instancing in the same way CoH had, and both were considered genius until the word 'instances' because a scapegoat for everything wrong in the industry today.
Tomorrow, I expect VO to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, after that, color qualities on gear (again)...
You really can't compare instancing and VO in their impact on the "world" aspect of a mmo. The very idea of instancing is alien to what a world simulation is supposed to be. I can make myself believe in 1000ft cyber-dragons breathing lasers and watermelons but I can't believe in my world peeling into "channels." Anarchy online and it's successors turned mmos into bad episodes of Twilight zone with no explanation or justification whatsoever of why characters inhabiting these worlds live in parallel universes which sometimes overlap (usually in front of AH.)
Once you stop and think about it, instancing really is the biggest immersion killer ever devised for video games. It was and still is a cheap and arbitrary way to solve certain problems mmorpgs really do have. But it's still a cheap, lazy and immersion-killing mechanic. However, exactly because it's cheap and lazy the devs bought it hook, line and sinker and stopped thinking of better ways to resolve mmo problems. MMO evolution began to regress with AO and Funocom shares the blame for that. It's only now that some devs are trying to rethink the whole concept, now when the players are finally growing tired of that crap.
Mind you, I'm not "against" instancing as such, but I don't consider such games as mmos. They are coop games and that's perfectly cool. I can really totally enjoy, say L4D or something.. but mixing persistent world and instances (beyond maybe a dungeon or something) and especially phasing and channeling open world areas is just lazy and unimmersive design... pretty much on the level of invisible walls and "tunnel" area design, something FC is also well known for. But then again, TSW does look good so far.
For anyone interested in this game dont buy into the hype or the anti-Funcom talk. If you are sceptical take a wait-and-see approach until some time after launch and listen to what people say about the game (not just here in mmorpg.com tho). If you appreciate what Funcom is trying to do with this game support them with your money.
Saying that this game will fail before its launched sounds so childish and bitter it ruins all your other arguments (which might be good) zlayer.
You dudes really dont want to make me your enemy NUmber one because Im home all day and I have nothing better to do... I can lurk on the Funcom forums and on these and just keep making example after example of the FAIL that this company is.. and how they treat its customers...
A job or woman is 100x more satisfying than all that.
I dont have to work another day in my life and I got a woman... dosent change the fact that Funcom is full of BS, and yes I have better things to do then.. Lurk on their forums all day.. it was mostly for effect to shut up their Hype train.. that has invaded this thread, trying to spin AOC into gold when its really a Turd...
Might have gone a little overboard but.. when people are calling me a liar and saying im full of BS I get upset, and all the links I made shows that Im telling the truth about AOC.. its still buggy, its still crap even 4 years after release... And Im dead tired of these companies trying to just shove it down our throats and expect us to take it...
No one is forcing anything down your throat or expecting you to take it. The best possible way to show that you don't like a product is to not purchase or participate with that product. Yelling at other people or trying to start drama isn't going to matter to anyone reading it...not in a way that will affect the company.
If people stopped shovelling the crappy games into their own mouths then, companies would stop making them. But, so long as there's a profit to be made, they're going to do it. That's what businesses do.
I have actually tried the TSW beta, I have played AoC and know a lot about AO through a friend of mine. TSW looks very good and fixes a lot of the issues I had with AoC. The instancing in AoC was really annoying. In Tortage, every building you entered was an instance, which ment you had lots of loadscreens. In the "starter" town in TSW all the buildings etc are in the same instance. So, even though TSW has instances you can probably play 10 hours or more without looking at a load screen.
Another great concept in TSW is travel. It's done through a place called Agatha and it basically lets you travel between any of the zones in the game. It's the same concept they have in AO and it's pretty sweet.
The skill system in TSW is probably what got it sold in my eyes. 500 skills, no classes, you can have multiple builds on one character and can switch between them whenever you are out of combat. Sweet! No more getting bored of having used the same build for 6 months and needing to re-roll to try something new. Just fiddle around, level up a little, get some more skills and make a new build. It's what Funcom refers to as Horizonal progression.
A few posts earlier in this thread mentions AoC and recent problems - which is true. They managed to introduce a slew of bugs with the 3.1 patch in desember. It took Funcom nearly two weeks to get it fixed. They still have some issues. It comes from backporting stuff from TSW to AoC (they are using nearly the same engine), which didn't work out as intended, probably due to some legacy stuff in AoC that TSW doesn't have. I have some friends with the TSW beta and after 30-40 hours of play I have reports of no lag, disconnects or crashes at all.
Regarding EA and Funcom, EA is just Funcom's box partner in the US. If you don't want to deal with EA, just buy the game digitally from Funcom and EA won't see a dime of your money.
One more thing to note about Funcom, they never quit on their games. AO was launched in 2001, over eleven years ago and they are still adding new stuff to the game. They are even going to change the graphics engine to the one used in TSW. Here is a screenshot with the new engine: http://www.anarchy-online.com/anarchy/frontend/files/CONTENT/dm03.png. AoC might have been a wreck at launch, but by Desember 2008 there were no big issues and they have added tons of content. It's probably three times the size it was at launch, with over half of it available for F2P players.
You dudes really dont want to make me your enemy NUmber one because Im home all day and I have nothing better to do... I can lurk on the Funcom forums and on these and just keep making example after example of the FAIL that this company is.. and how they treat its customers...
All I can say to that is, grow up and get a life.
I won't even go into how sad it is when people have nothing better to do than lurk on game forums to find any bad comment about a game or its company they can find to vindicate why they aren't able to enjoy playing in an MMO anymore. Seriously, it's... move on and do something positive with your life, is all I can say.
And yes, AoC is GREAT, I had an awesome time with zero issues in gameplay when I played it last year, and that applied to the vast majority who played ingame. If you think AoC has problems, then I'd advice you to steer away from all incl EVE bc they all have problems for some players.
call me a critic but doesnt seem like it will be open world.
also where to sign up for beta at?
Since the world consists of different areas of the real world not connected naturally it wont be a fully Open World. It will instead consist of a few large regions that is connected through Argatha (basicly a portal travelling system from the myth ''a hollow earth''). The regions are said to be big consisting of many playfields. There won't be any loading screens between the playfields, but when travelling from region to region you will have to go through argatha which are portals that gives you minor loading screens.
Beta signup started back in august, but if you check their mainpage it may still be up i dont know
You dudes really dont want to make me your enemy NUmber one because Im home all day and I have nothing better to do... I can lurk on the Funcom forums and on these and just keep making example after example of the FAIL that this company is.. and how they treat its customers...
I'm not trying to make fun of you, but the above makes you sound... really lame. And that's sad because your terribly communicated message may simply be a misguided attempt at trying to warn others about a legitimate concern.
You'll catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Just saying.
As for Funcom, I'm willing to check out what they can do and respect them just for the fact that they dare to try something different instead of offering another flash in the pan shallow copy of the mediocrity that seems to appeal to the masses so much.
Might have gone a little overboard but.. when people are calling me a liar and saying im full of BS I get upset, and all the links I made shows that Im telling the truth about AOC.. its still buggy, its still crap even 4 years after release... And Im dead tired of these companies trying to just shove it down our throats and expect us to take it...
Here's the thing - I happen to be in the gaming industry (Writer/designer) and I can tell you that with MMO's, there simply isn't enough funding, time or talent in the world to make them 'perfect'. It's an unfortunate reality that bugs will exist, pretty much no matter what you do. All a developer can do is tackle the biggest, worst bugs and work from there.
Saying AOC is crap is subjective - a matter of opinion, really. Personally, I thought the game had incredible potential and still consider the first 20 or so levels to be the finest MMORPG experience I've ever had. Is it perfect? No. Could it have been better? Probably. Did those people work their asses off to make it the best they could under their studios' conditions and directions? I guarantee you they did.
As gamers, it's easy to forget that the people who usually develop these games are gamers themselves and they're people too. They do care. A lot. I can't tell you the amount of passion and sacrafice that goes into developing a game.
That being said, you just can't please everyone and that becomes even more true when the doubled edged sword of hype gets involved - I think that's actually why The Secret World is not seeing a lot of hype right now.
On the corporate side of the gaming industry where I have also worked (as a strategic online marketer/market analyst) I can tell you that at the end of the day, it's all about the $. Whatever powers may be have the $ call the shots, and no creative director, no senior developer, NO ONE can generally veto the decisions made by the moneymen.
Sadly, a lot of the time this is where the faults of a game can be laid. Of course, without this side of the business, you wouldn't have the game at all.
At the end of the day, we're all just gamers trying to find what works. What works for us, works for you, works for everyone involved. It's not as easy as it sounds.
Why do I write, create, fantasize, dream and daydream about other worlds? Because I hate what humanity does with this one.
I have actually tried the TSW beta, I have played AoC and know a lot about AO through a friend of mine. TSW looks very good and fixes a lot of the issues I had with AoC. The instancing in AoC was really annoying. In Tortage, every building you entered was an instance, which ment you had lots of loadscreens. In the "starter" town in TSW all the buildings etc are in the same instance. So, even though TSW has instances you can probably play 10 hours or more without looking at a load screen. Another great concept in TSW is travel. It's done through a place called Agatha and it basically lets you travel between any of the zones in the game. It's the same concept they have in AO and it's pretty sweet. The skill system in TSW is probably what got it sold in my eyes. 500 skills, no classes, you can have multiple builds on one character and can switch between them whenever you are out of combat. Sweet! No more getting bored of having used the same build for 6 months and needing to re-roll to try something new. Just fiddle around, level up a little, get some more skills and make a new build. It's what Funcom refers to as Horizonal progression. A few posts earlier in this thread mentions AoC and recent problems - which is true. They managed to introduce a slew of bugs with the 3.1 patch in desember. It took Funcom nearly two weeks to get it fixed. They still have some issues. It comes from backporting stuff from TSW to AoC (they are using nearly the same engine), which didn't work out as intended, probably due to some legacy stuff in AoC that TSW doesn't have. I have some friends with the TSW beta and after 30-40 hours of play I have reports of no lag, disconnects or crashes at all. Regarding EA and Funcom, EA is just Funcom's box partner in the US. If you don't want to deal with EA, just buy the game digitally from Funcom and EA won't see a dime of your money. One more thing to note about Funcom, they never quit on their games. AO was launched in 2001, over eleven years ago and they are still adding new stuff to the game. They are even going to change the graphics engine to the one used in TSW. Here is a screenshot with the new engine: http://www.anarchy-online.com/anarchy/frontend/files/CONTENT/dm03.png. AoC might have been a wreck at launch, but by Desember 2008 there were no big issues and they have added tons of content. It's probably three times the size it was at launch, with over half of it available for F2P players.
Alright, this is a reasonable and rational post that I can fully agree with and acknowledge. I wasn't aware of the issues that were introduced in December, but if that's the case then I can understand how annoying they must be. When I played it last year, I didn't experience any of it, gameplay was smooth and engaging, the same the year before. As for the TSW statements, nice to hear. But I'll always be somewhat sceptic in regards to large player numbers, only those will tell if a server can hold its own when it's filled to the brim with players and has to perform normally in situations like that.
For anyone interested in this game dont buy into the hype or the anti-Funcom talk. If you are sceptical take a wait-and-see approach until some time after launch and listen to what people say about the game (not just here in mmorpg.com tho). If you appreciate what Funcom is trying to do with this game support them with your money.
Saying that this game will fail before its launched sounds so childish and bitter it ruins all your other arguments (which might be good) zlayer.
My first post was level and just pointed out that I dont belive in Funcom.. Because their track record speak against them. Then the Fanboy brigade started calling me a lair and full of BS.. and I had to be forcefull in my Reply...
Sure if the game IS AWSOME.. they have one poor dev on the team that actually knows what he is doing, Ragnar Tørnquist, lets hope they dont throw him under the Bus if things go south) But the rest of the bunch at Failcom dosent bring me much hope. And consumers like you and I should be fully informed and not be the victims of Hypetrains..(that FUncom are masters of, if that were their real jobbs, Hyping shit to high heaven they would get A+ and gold star from me for sure) But I dont appeciate when they are trying to spin things around and fooling people into believing things that just isent true..
The class less system may be unique and interesting, but the Trinity based role combat was not. Group instance run looked exactly like a WoW/Rift/AoC/WAR/TOR etc. etc. etc. instanced dungeon.
Leh Yawn.
Also, animations were horrible - like City of Heroes bad.
Then I do some more research and find out you get special loot and titles for picking a "class" with your skill deck...
Not at all sold Funcom, sorry.
Only thing intriguing to me is the modern world + horror/conspiracy etc. setting.
But again, tank beating on stuff with a sledge hammer... healer standing in the back doing glowy stuff... guy with AK standing in place shooting, gal with Sword standing in place swinging...
2004-2011 called, they want their 2nd generation MMOs back.
Comments
EA+Anything usually ruins that devoloper, look at bioware as a prime example.
I thought they did great at ME2?
People with a grudge against EA will usually ignore such examples and pretend DAoC and ME and ME2 don't exist or were really bad for the sake of making their claim.Well, Funcom basically invented instancing in Anarchy online... That puts a big black mark on them in my mind. The fact that they followed the idea with AoC's dreadful channels or whatever they're called does not help at all.
So far, their track record is "sacrifice mmo aspects for flashy gfx which can compete in promo pics with srpgs." But I'm giving them benefit of doubt. If TSW is heavily instanced or phased I'm giving it a miss, no matter how much I like the rest they have to offer.
Those devs really have to decide whether they're creating a CORPG or MMORPG and declare their game as such. Given what's going on with EA's SW:TOR, my optimism sinks even lower. But as I said, it might turn out to be great IF they make it a proper MMO that feels like a world and not a series of tunnels, don't go too greedy with their monetization and release relatively bug-free... which is a lot to ask from EA/FC combo, but hey, stranger things have been known to happen.
It's funny how little there really was in that game, because in most circumstances, moving area to area is called "zoning", and contingent with plenty of other players. It had instancing in the same way CoH had, and both were considered genius until the word 'instances' because a scapegoat for everything wrong in the industry today.
Tomorrow, I expect VO to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, after that, color qualities on gear (again)...
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
Breaking NEWS just in from AOC forums....
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=240371
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=240335
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=240294
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=240288
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=240329
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=240308
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=240283
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=240280
You dudes really dont want to make me your enemy NUmber one because Im home all day and I have nothing better to do... I can lurk on the Funcom forums and on these and just keep making example after example of the FAIL that this company is.. and how they treat its customers...
ps this post is for the people saying everything is just fine with AOC these days 4 years after its release.. and Im telling you ITS NOT.. and its dying fast.. and TSW wont be anny better...
And for me to admit I would rather play SW.TOR.. because the single player experince is atleast working in that game IS "HUGHE" and would give added wieght to my arguments.. because everyone knows how much I dislike that game... and ITS MUCH BETTER THEN ANYTHING FUNCOM WILL EVER MAKE...
Well, first of all... The Longest Journey is one of my all-time favorite games, so its designer, Ragnar Tørnquist, has a lot of credit with me. I'd buy The Secret World even if I didn't enjoy Anarchy Online or Age of Conan at all, just due to that credit - as a show of gratitude to Ragnar...
And you know what? I did like Anarchy Online a lot back when. And Age of Conan isn't that bad these days.
Now, I was in the beta for both those Funcom MMOs, and I do know they tend to launch rough games. But generally I like their game design and, they have this habit of daring to walk a bit off the beaten path, which I appreciate even if they botch stuff at first... And another thing that's very important to me in MMOs: They do nail the atmosphere in their games like few others can. From what I've seen of The Secret World, again, the atmosphere seems to be thick in that game. And I'm digging the modern supernatural setting - I always have (come on, CCP, hurry up with WOD!).
I wouldn't be really surprised if we get another rough launch, but I can play through it as long as the game at its core is exciting.
A job or woman is 100x more satisfying than all that.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
I'm not trying to make fun of you, but the above makes you sound... really lame. And that's sad because your terribly communicated message may simply be a misguided attempt at trying to warn others about a legitimate concern.
You'll catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Just saying.
As for Funcom, I'm willing to check out what they can do and respect them just for the fact that they dare to try something different instead of offering another flash in the pan shallow copy of the mediocrity that seems to appeal to the masses so much.
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
subscription + cash shop = No Thanks!
Might have gone a little overboard but.. when people are calling me a liar and saying im full of BS I get upset, and all the links I made shows that Im telling the truth about AOC.. its still buggy, its still crap even 4 years after release... And Im dead tired of these companies trying to just shove it down our throats and expect us to take it...
You really can't compare instancing and VO in their impact on the "world" aspect of a mmo. The very idea of instancing is alien to what a world simulation is supposed to be. I can make myself believe in 1000ft cyber-dragons breathing lasers and watermelons but I can't believe in my world peeling into "channels." Anarchy online and it's successors turned mmos into bad episodes of Twilight zone with no explanation or justification whatsoever of why characters inhabiting these worlds live in parallel universes which sometimes overlap (usually in front of AH.)
Once you stop and think about it, instancing really is the biggest immersion killer ever devised for video games. It was and still is a cheap and arbitrary way to solve certain problems mmorpgs really do have. But it's still a cheap, lazy and immersion-killing mechanic. However, exactly because it's cheap and lazy the devs bought it hook, line and sinker and stopped thinking of better ways to resolve mmo problems. MMO evolution began to regress with AO and Funocom shares the blame for that. It's only now that some devs are trying to rethink the whole concept, now when the players are finally growing tired of that crap.
Mind you, I'm not "against" instancing as such, but I don't consider such games as mmos. They are coop games and that's perfectly cool. I can really totally enjoy, say L4D or something.. but mixing persistent world and instances (beyond maybe a dungeon or something) and especially phasing and channeling open world areas is just lazy and unimmersive design... pretty much on the level of invisible walls and "tunnel" area design, something FC is also well known for. But then again, TSW does look good so far.
For anyone interested in this game dont buy into the hype or the anti-Funcom talk. If you are sceptical take a wait-and-see approach until some time after launch and listen to what people say about the game (not just here in mmorpg.com tho). If you appreciate what Funcom is trying to do with this game support them with your money.
Saying that this game will fail before its launched sounds so childish and bitter it ruins all your other arguments (which might be good) zlayer.
Is this game fully Open World?
call me a critic but doesnt seem like it will be open world.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
I dont have to work another day in my life and I got a woman... dosent change the fact that Funcom is full of BS, and yes I have better things to do then.. Lurk on their forums all day.. it was mostly for effect to shut up their Hype train.. that has invaded this thread, trying to spin AOC into gold when its really a Turd...
No one is forcing anything down your throat or expecting you to take it. The best possible way to show that you don't like a product is to not purchase or participate with that product. Yelling at other people or trying to start drama isn't going to matter to anyone reading it...not in a way that will affect the company.
If people stopped shovelling the crappy games into their own mouths then, companies would stop making them. But, so long as there's a profit to be made, they're going to do it. That's what businesses do.
http://www.thesecretworld.com/ right side of the page.
New movie trailers & video game trailers are my new passion!
I have actually tried the TSW beta, I have played AoC and know a lot about AO through a friend of mine. TSW looks very good and fixes a lot of the issues I had with AoC. The instancing in AoC was really annoying. In Tortage, every building you entered was an instance, which ment you had lots of loadscreens. In the "starter" town in TSW all the buildings etc are in the same instance. So, even though TSW has instances you can probably play 10 hours or more without looking at a load screen.
Another great concept in TSW is travel. It's done through a place called Agatha and it basically lets you travel between any of the zones in the game. It's the same concept they have in AO and it's pretty sweet.
The skill system in TSW is probably what got it sold in my eyes. 500 skills, no classes, you can have multiple builds on one character and can switch between them whenever you are out of combat. Sweet! No more getting bored of having used the same build for 6 months and needing to re-roll to try something new. Just fiddle around, level up a little, get some more skills and make a new build. It's what Funcom refers to as Horizonal progression.
A few posts earlier in this thread mentions AoC and recent problems - which is true. They managed to introduce a slew of bugs with the 3.1 patch in desember. It took Funcom nearly two weeks to get it fixed. They still have some issues. It comes from backporting stuff from TSW to AoC (they are using nearly the same engine), which didn't work out as intended, probably due to some legacy stuff in AoC that TSW doesn't have. I have some friends with the TSW beta and after 30-40 hours of play I have reports of no lag, disconnects or crashes at all.
Regarding EA and Funcom, EA is just Funcom's box partner in the US. If you don't want to deal with EA, just buy the game digitally from Funcom and EA won't see a dime of your money.
One more thing to note about Funcom, they never quit on their games. AO was launched in 2001, over eleven years ago and they are still adding new stuff to the game. They are even going to change the graphics engine to the one used in TSW. Here is a screenshot with the new engine: http://www.anarchy-online.com/anarchy/frontend/files/CONTENT/dm03.png. AoC might have been a wreck at launch, but by Desember 2008 there were no big issues and they have added tons of content. It's probably three times the size it was at launch, with over half of it available for F2P players.
All I can say to that is, grow up and get a life.
I won't even go into how sad it is when people have nothing better to do than lurk on game forums to find any bad comment about a game or its company they can find to vindicate why they aren't able to enjoy playing in an MMO anymore. Seriously, it's... move on and do something positive with your life, is all I can say.
And yes, AoC is GREAT, I had an awesome time with zero issues in gameplay when I played it last year, and that applied to the vast majority who played ingame. If you think AoC has problems, then I'd advice you to steer away from all incl EVE bc they all have problems for some players.
Nonstop irrational negativity, it's completely mindboggling...Since the world consists of different areas of the real world not connected naturally it wont be a fully Open World. It will instead consist of a few large regions that is connected through Argatha (basicly a portal travelling system from the myth ''a hollow earth''). The regions are said to be big consisting of many playfields. There won't be any loading screens between the playfields, but when travelling from region to region you will have to go through argatha which are portals that gives you minor loading screens.
Beta signup started back in august, but if you check their mainpage it may still be up i dont know
I'm sorry, but I can't find any relevant information on the "right side of the page" could you point it out a bit more precisely?
And zoning is not instancing, yawn.
Here's the thing - I happen to be in the gaming industry (Writer/designer) and I can tell you that with MMO's, there simply isn't enough funding, time or talent in the world to make them 'perfect'. It's an unfortunate reality that bugs will exist, pretty much no matter what you do. All a developer can do is tackle the biggest, worst bugs and work from there.
Saying AOC is crap is subjective - a matter of opinion, really. Personally, I thought the game had incredible potential and still consider the first 20 or so levels to be the finest MMORPG experience I've ever had. Is it perfect? No. Could it have been better? Probably. Did those people work their asses off to make it the best they could under their studios' conditions and directions? I guarantee you they did.
As gamers, it's easy to forget that the people who usually develop these games are gamers themselves and they're people too. They do care. A lot. I can't tell you the amount of passion and sacrafice that goes into developing a game.
That being said, you just can't please everyone and that becomes even more true when the doubled edged sword of hype gets involved - I think that's actually why The Secret World is not seeing a lot of hype right now.
On the corporate side of the gaming industry where I have also worked (as a strategic online marketer/market analyst) I can tell you that at the end of the day, it's all about the $. Whatever powers may be have the $ call the shots, and no creative director, no senior developer, NO ONE can generally veto the decisions made by the moneymen.
Sadly, a lot of the time this is where the faults of a game can be laid. Of course, without this side of the business, you wouldn't have the game at all.
At the end of the day, we're all just gamers trying to find what works. What works for us, works for you, works for everyone involved. It's not as easy as it sounds.
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
This game looks really interesting. I'm looking foreward to.......Oh wait EA AND Funcom? Pass.
Lol MMOExposed just edit his message before I've posted my quote, he was asking where to get the beta key. sorry
New movie trailers & video game trailers are my new passion!
Alright, this is a reasonable and rational post that I can fully agree with and acknowledge. I wasn't aware of the issues that were introduced in December, but if that's the case then I can understand how annoying they must be. When I played it last year, I didn't experience any of it, gameplay was smooth and engaging, the same the year before. As for the TSW statements, nice to hear. But I'll always be somewhat sceptic in regards to large player numbers, only those will tell if a server can hold its own when it's filled to the brim with players and has to perform normally in situations like that.My first post was level and just pointed out that I dont belive in Funcom.. Because their track record speak against them. Then the Fanboy brigade started calling me a lair and full of BS.. and I had to be forcefull in my Reply...
Sure if the game IS AWSOME.. they have one poor dev on the team that actually knows what he is doing, Ragnar Tørnquist, lets hope they dont throw him under the Bus if things go south) But the rest of the bunch at Failcom dosent bring me much hope. And consumers like you and I should be fully informed and not be the victims of Hypetrains..(that FUncom are masters of, if that were their real jobbs, Hyping shit to high heaven they would get A+ and gold star from me for sure) But I dont appeciate when they are trying to spin things around and fooling people into believing things that just isent true..
I watched some videos of game play...
The class less system may be unique and interesting, but the Trinity based role combat was not. Group instance run looked exactly like a WoW/Rift/AoC/WAR/TOR etc. etc. etc. instanced dungeon.
Leh Yawn.
Also, animations were horrible - like City of Heroes bad.
Then I do some more research and find out you get special loot and titles for picking a "class" with your skill deck...
Not at all sold Funcom, sorry.
Only thing intriguing to me is the modern world + horror/conspiracy etc. setting.
But again, tank beating on stuff with a sledge hammer... healer standing in the back doing glowy stuff... guy with AK standing in place shooting, gal with Sword standing in place swinging...
2004-2011 called, they want their 2nd generation MMOs back.
Where are the real Gen3 games?