Originally posted by Dewguy79 I don't know how anyone can believe a word this guys says. Sony is not in good shape right now, credit rating junk, sold off PC division , closing games, projected a $20 billion profit for '13 turns out it's going to be a $1billion loss. If EQN flops soe and smedly won't have the resources or the green light to make this carrot he is hanging out in from of all there ex swg players.
Idk what they are dangling, but right now, add combat to eqn:l then stand back.
There's a foundation here, the likes of which the genre has not seen. They have reason and room to talk atm.
I think Smedly must have chimed in on MMORPG's heated discussions on these topics, he gets them right so well.
In FFXIV we ran out of stuff to do and lost purpsose of doing thigns in the world. Which Ultimately made me quit the game. Same can be said of every MMO out there that we burned though and found absolutly nothing to do afterwards but stand around in a city with nothing else rewarding to do in the game world.
Smedley knows his job, he knows it well, he is a genius to read what players want expecially on forums like MMORPG. I wish he would have KNOWN these things when EQOA as still out, and given us something more to do then Grind EYEBALLS for 5 years straight without any new camps to grind on, it wasn't until the game was almost completely dead before he got around to putting a penny into it.
Thing is, Smedley might know the PSYCHOLOGY OF THE PLAYERS really well, but he lacks the development vision to go after ALL STYLES of players. I have yet to see a single game made by SOE that can satisfy ALL PLAYERS which he talks about doing in his great speech and accurate statements.
I like X kind of games, I don't like X kind of games, I like realistic graphic, I don't like realistic graphics, I like sandbox, I dotn like sandbox, I like theme park, I don't like themepark, I like voice overs, I don't like voice overs, I like storylines, I don't like storylines, I like grinding, I don't like grinding, I like quests, I don't like quests, I like long progression, I like short progression, I like solo, I dont like solo, I like group play, I dont like group play, you get the point! Cant please them all!
Even if L and N doesnt become the huge succes stories many hope and belive ( I hope ), atleast SoE is trying more than any dev team has before to listen and communicate with their players. Also they are trying to create something new and push the mmorpg genre towards uncharted terratories, as they have done before. You can hate on SoE and rant on Smedley all you want, personally Ive had hours after hours of fun in their games so far.
Originally posted by Raxxo82 Even if L and N doesnt become the huge succes stories many hope and belive ( I hope ), atleast SoE is trying more than any dev team has before to listen and communicate with their players. Also they are trying to create something new and push the mmorpg genre towards uncharted terratories, as they have done before. You can hate on SoE and rant on Smedley all you want, personally Ive had hours after hours of fun in their games so far.
I loved a lot of past SOE games, the problem is they have always only delivered on half a vision. The first half, and the second half is neglected tot he point people leave the games they create. I hate this part of SOE games the most. When you want content and a company fails to deliver even an update or expansion that will keep that game alive for years to come, it tends to really hurt your image of a company like SOE.
4 games shutting down, 2 major ones previously EQOA and SWG, with no updates or new titles in those. And the reason they are being shut down is because no content was added to the games to keep players in the game. Its a trend I tend to hate with SOE. I hope they give more attn. to EQ Next Landmark and EQ Nex then they have to their past titles.
Its already hard to trust a company that has only Halfway delivered on games so far up to date.. should we believe they changed without seeing evidence of it yet?
Originally posted by Dewguy79 I don't know how anyone can believe a word this guys says. Sony is not in good shape right now, credit rating junk, sold off PC division , closing games, projected a $20 billion profit for '13 turns out it's going to be a $1billion loss. If EQN flops soe and smedly won't have the resources or the green light to make this carrot he is hanging out in from of all there ex swg players.
Your right about one thing "talk is cheap". But you see... the thing is...
There is an Alpha right now, rightly or wrongly you can purchase access (according to your financial analysis SOE is not being greedy for selling alpha access, they are in dire need of the funding). It has no NDA, information is freely available. The alpha is a lot of fun, the engine is amazing, it's a lot more then talk. There is nothing but enthusiasm and optimism from people playing the alpha.
It's just simply well made and fun and the real potential (not pipe dreams) just smacks you in the face.
I don't know if Sony repossessed your family farm or something? You sure seem to have some sort of axe to grind.
Is Sony going to fold? About as much chance of that as GE, or Nestle folding. Will Sony close the doors on SOE? Na... if they want out , they'll sell the division and someone would snap it up.
I haven't experienced a more promising MMORPG since I played WoW beta.
Once upon a time a number of rocking devs migrated from working on the granddaddy of mmorpgs, Ultima Online (the first successful mmo and it was a sandbox, gee imagine that) to work on a title that would become the epitome of sandboxes, Star Wars Galaxies.
How unique a title! Every item was made by the players and rarely were there two identical items. There were tailors, there were people who did nothing but hunt for, and set up extractors on, the very best of material spawns in the game world. Something which had to be repeated because resources would shift quality and amount forcing miners to pick up everything and move. The guild I was in, TPE, our city on Naboo. My God the planning that went into that. First just the coordination between our American and Euro players had us set up with relays to ensure that Jebu could get to the spot we had picked out expediently (there were a limit to the number of cities you could place on a planet). The way that town was laid out, we had better organization to our town than the devs did with their npc cities lol.
We hosted tournaments, our crafters had sales and give aways that would have a hundred players lined up waiting for their turn. Every house was placed with care and attention to detail. We even had houses set up for future guildies to move in without having to go through the hassle of finding a spot that didn't mess up the design.
Hell, it was so indepth that people basically apprenticed under great crafters to learn how to make things like the Fatal-One- Fancypants FWG-5's, with the apprentice becoming masters like Bzzt.
Not only was it a complete sandbox, but there were little theme parks with quest lines, nifty rewards and it all tied in to the timeline of the game exquisitely.
Was the game perfect? Well I am sure that anyone that got hunted by a pack of gurrecks or sat in the basement of a locked bunker with people throwing mind poisons through walls, doors and floors to kill you would say far from it.
Rather than FIX the problems that they created by forcing out individuals like Raph Koster they, SOE, continued to make things worse. When I had been disconnected from the server for the last time as I sat there with a dozen other creature handlers playing with our pets and saying goodbye bugs from launch were still present.
What was Smedley's idea? NO ONE WANTS TO BE UNCLE BEN OR AUNT BERU. THAT ISN'T STAR WARSY. EVERYONE WANTS TO BE LUKE OR HAN.
Destroy the sand box to force a themepark over the top of it.
Eff Smedley
Eff SOE.
So, after what a decade, you now want to sing a different story?
To no one but a fraud and liar is "I would have done things differently" equitable to an apology or the taking of responsibility.
Originally posted by Dewguy79 I don't know how anyone can believe a word this guys says. Sony is not in good shape right now, credit rating junk, sold off PC division , closing games, projected a $20 billion profit for '13 turns out it's going to be a $1billion loss. If EQN flops soe and smedly won't have the resources or the green light to make this carrot he is hanging out in from of all there ex swg players.
Not sure how posting facts about the current state of Sony is an ax to grind or have anything to do with my family, farm (not a farmer) etc etc. I didn't say anything bad about eqn no need to get all defensive. All I stated is IF eqn flops Smedly won't get the ok to make the sandbox for all the swg vets I.e carrot.
So settle down I'm not attacking your little groudbreaking, greatest thing since wow, promising game. Just put out some facts sorry they didn't make you feel all tingling inside.
I am still deeply "wait 'n see" on this but I can't ignore the irony that SOE, the company that deliberately destroyed the greatest sandbox MMO of our time, should come to the conclusion that sandbox is the future of MMOs and seek to lead the way.
I also get the irony that many who swore they would never return to SOE but found nothing on the market deserving of their money and time, may find it necessary to reluctantly return. And I include myself here.
I don't think anyone would disagree with giving players tools and allowing a world to change or grow,but we are talking about SOE.The WAY they do things is every bit about monetary value and NOT about the game.
They changed direction because they saw the popularity of Voxels and i am sure got a really good deal on a license.Smedley gets NO credit for Voxel popularity,he was actually slow moving on it.He saw that they could probably resell the voxels license and mask it as a SOE game.They knew it wouldn't work in a real MMORPG so they decided to split it up and utilize the popular Everquest title.
Look no further than Smedley trying to spin some new game as the savior to SWG,he is all about BS marketing and not quality game design.He also changed direction because he saw the popularity of kick starters,so again an easy cash grab less cash input from SOE.
Game design has always been about investing in a game than trying to sell it,this was a massively cheaper endeavor and best of all SOE did not have to make Voxels nor did they even have to invest time making assets for a world.SUPER easy for them to auto generate a world add Voxels and sell it.
I have not researched the Voxels license but i bet it is really low,this Landmark with all the crowd funding is probably already in the green and they don't need much of a team, to work on it either so very little overhead.These are the true reasons Smedley changed direction.
You just described, in detail, an intelligent, experienced businessman. Did you forget that this is a business after all? Did you know that in order to be in the business, you need to make a game that is fun enough for people to commit to? Did you know it costs money to make a game, and the more money you make/save the more successful your business is? Making intelligent choices/partnerships to achieve this goal is something to admire, because when all is said and done, if he is successful, we have an awesome game to play and support... how he does it shouldn't matter to you.
So he's talking about making the game into Second Life.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Originally posted by Spawnblade I still don't understand why SOE, when finally deciding to go full sandbox, thought that stepping away from realism was the answer. "Let's simplify our combat system, not even hint at PvP, and transform all our formerly-realistic character designs into cartoons!" Immersion is the biggest ingredient for a successful sandbox, yet they seem to be making decisions that destroy that immersion.
I remain mystified myself, and I haven't seen any statement from SOE regarding why they chose to make such a style departure. I still think it looks like a Lucas Arts adventure game or a teen-age Free Realms. For many of us, graphics are the most important aspect of immersion. Other aspects of the game are important for challenge or entertainment, but graphics are a huge part of immersion. This is even more important in a game where players are expected to create much of their own content.
While any art style can be potentially immersive, if you happen to respond to realistic character graphics like I do, then you appear to be out of luck with EQN and Landmark. For the record, I also found WOW graphics immersive and the caracters were cartoonish, but not puffy faced/big eyed cute. Still keeping an eye on the game as it has some interesting features.
Regarding the sandbox idea. I like freedom in a game and have always been an explorer, quester, and crafter, rather than heavy into combat and leveling. Even so, I'm leery of a game with too much dependance on players to generate the games content. There's no question there are players capable of creating great content, but the opposite is also true, and a player wanting to experience the content has to wade through both. There's something to be said for professionally created encounters. This in my case, means interesting storylines and quest conversations, something I don't see being talked about much.
I'm much more interested in someone making a sandpark. I'll take a good themepark over a good sandbox anyday. I'm interested in being entertained, not doing the entertaining and enjoying content designed by professionals who have been trained is more likely to appeal to me more often than not than content created sporadically by joe schmoe gamer.
Once upon a time a number of rocking devs migrated from working on the granddaddy of mmorpgs, Ultima Online (the first successful mmo and it was a sandbox, gee imagine that) to work on a title that would become the epitome of sandboxes, Star Wars Galaxies.How unique a title! Every item was made by the players and rarely were there two identical items. There were tailors, there were people who did nothing but hunt for, and set up extractors on, the very best of material spawns in the game world. Something which had to be repeated because resources would shift quality and amount forcing miners to pick up everything and move. The guild I was in, TPE, our city on Naboo. My God the planning that went into that. First just the coordination between our American and Euro players had us set up with relays to ensure that Jebu could get to the spot we had picked out expediently (there were a limit to the number of cities you could place on a planet). The way that town was laid out, we had better organization to our town than the devs did with their npc cities lol.We hosted tournaments, our crafters had sales and give aways that would have a hundred players lined up waiting for their turn. Every house was placed with care and attention to detail. We even had houses set up for future guildies to move in without having to go through the hassle of finding a spot that didn't mess up the design.Hell, it was so indepth that people basically apprenticed under great crafters to learn how to make things like the Fatal-One- Fancypants FWG-5's, with the apprentice becoming masters like Bzzt.Not only was it a complete sandbox, but there were little theme parks with quest lines, nifty rewards and it all tied in to the timeline of the game exquisitely.Was the game perfect? Well I am sure that anyone that got hunted by a pack of gurrecks or sat in the basement of a locked bunker with people throwing mind poisons through walls, doors and floors to kill you would say far from it. Rather than FIX the problems that they created by forcing out individuals like Raph Koster they, SOE, continued to make things worse. When I had been disconnected from the server for the last time as I sat there with a dozen other creature handlers playing with our pets and saying goodbye bugs from launch were still present.What was Smedley's idea? NO ONE WANTS TO BE UNCLE BEN OR AUNT BERU. THAT ISN'T STAR WARSY. EVERYONE WANTS TO BE LUKE OR HAN.Destroy the sand box to force a themepark over the top of it.Eff SmedleyEff SOE.So, after what a decade, you now want to sing a different story?To no one but a fraud and liar is "I would have done things differently" equitable to an apology or the taking of responsibility.
So what your saying is that SoE and Smedley hurt you so deep that you wish you never had played the game at all?
Originally posted by Dewguy79 I don't know how anyone can believe a word this guys says. Sony is not in good shape right now, credit rating junk, sold off PC division , closing games, projected a $20 billion profit for '13 turns out it's going to be a $1billion loss. If EQN flops soe and smedly won't have the resources or the green light to make this carrot he is hanging out in from of all there ex swg players.
Your right about one thing "talk is cheap". But you see... the thing is...
There is an Alpha right now, rightly or wrongly you can purchase access (according to your financial analysis SOE is not being greedy for selling alpha access, they are in dire need of the funding). It has no NDA, information is freely available. The alpha is a lot of fun, the engine is amazing, it's a lot more then talk. There is nothing but enthusiasm and optimism from people playing the alpha.
It's just simply well made and fun and the real potential (not pipe dreams) just smacks you in the face.
I don't know if Sony repossessed your family farm or something? You sure seem to have some sort of axe to grind.
Is Sony going to fold? About as much chance of that as GE, or Nestle folding. Will Sony close the doors on SOE? Na... if they want out , they'll sell the division and someone would snap it up.
I haven't experienced a more promising MMORPG since I played WoW beta.
Not sure how posting facts about the current state of Sony is an ax to grind or have anything to do with my family, farm (not a farmer) etc etc. I didn't say anything bad about eqn no need to get all defensive. All I stated is IF eqn flops Smedly won't get the ok to make the sandbox for all the swg vets I.e carrot.
So settle down I'm not attacking your little groudbreaking, greatest thing since wow, promising game. Just put out some facts sorry they didn't make you feel all tingling inside.
The sky is falling.... The sky is falling....
k dude
Well I see you realize how ridiculous your prior post was so you deleted it from the chain. Well I didn't mean to upset you buddy, just providing a few facts to the discussion. Might want to learn how to handle facts that you don't like a little better.
Na... my prior post was quoted just above yours, reader's have already seen it a couple times. I will paste it back in to appease you and so everyone can once again read how ridiculous my prior post was, These chains do tend to get quite large.
Originally posted by Octagon7711 So he's talking about making the game into Second Life.
LOL, that was my first thought too. Expect SOE has a lot of catching up to do.
Yep, they are building it like Mindcraft, talking about it like it's Second Life, yet using Eve as the example of how it will be.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Originally posted by Dewguy79 I don't know how anyone can believe a word this guys says. Sony is not in good shape right now, credit rating junk, sold off PC division , closing games, projected a $20 billion profit for '13 turns out it's going to be a $1billion loss. If EQN flops soe and smedly won't have the resources or the green light to make this carrot he is hanging out in from of all there ex swg players.
Your right about one thing "talk is cheap". But you see... the thing is...
There is an Alpha right now, rightly or wrongly you can purchase access (according to your financial analysis SOE is not being greedy for selling alpha access, they are in dire need of the funding). It has no NDA, information is freely available. The alpha is a lot of fun, the engine is amazing, it's a lot more then talk. There is nothing but enthusiasm and optimism from people playing the alpha.
It's just simply well made and fun and the real potential (not pipe dreams) just smacks you in the face.
I don't know if Sony repossessed your family farm or something? You sure seem to have some sort of axe to grind.
Is Sony going to fold? About as much chance of that as GE, or Nestle folding. Will Sony close the doors on SOE? Na... if they want out , they'll sell the division and someone would snap it up.
I haven't experienced a more promising MMORPG since I played WoW beta.
Not sure how posting facts about the current state of Sony is an ax to grind or have anything to do with my family, farm (not a farmer) etc etc. I didn't say anything bad about eqn no need to get all defensive. All I stated is IF eqn flops Smedly won't get the ok to make the sandbox for all the swg vets I.e carrot.
So settle down I'm not attacking your little groudbreaking, greatest thing since wow, promising game. Just put out some facts sorry they didn't make you feel all tingling inside.
The sky is falling.... The sky is falling....
k dude
Well I see you realize how ridiculous your prior post was so you deleted it from the chain. Well I didn't mean to upset you buddy, just providing a few facts to the discussion. Might want to learn how to handle facts that you don't like a little better.
Na... my prior post was quoted just above yours, reader's have already seen it a couple times. I will paste it back in to appease you and so everyone can once again read how ridiculous my prior post was, These chains do tend to get quite large.
cheers
Oh your one of those guys that copy/paste the same post on every thread...got it thanks.
I want to like EQN: Landmark so much, but from all of the screenshots I have seen of player created content I can't get past the fact that everything that players have made looks like toy sets put together... It's very LEGO feeling, and for me, it does ruin the immersion.
Yes, games like TOR can never, ever keep their themeparks full of new stuff at the rate of player burn through. It is so obvious. Damon Schubert wrote in a blog post about a year before release that TOR/BW understood that making a star wars game into a pure themepark would be a disaster, because it would waste the richness of a mythos where players would want to login in, interact in a community, and just "live" in the space. He PROMISED a game that would take the best of the themepark model and sandbox model, along with a FOCUS on community. I am STILL waiting for that game. A beloved IP where the ink is dry on the mythos. Themepark and sandbox community building elements, such as player housing, player cities, and in game meta systems. And then BW turned around and made a damn pure themepark game anyway. And it crashed and burned. One of the WORST things about the game is that servers are essentially interchangeable...players MAKE NO mark on their world. Nothing converys ownership and a long term feeling of attachment like "owning" a piece of the world.
Now, before smedley destroyed SWG, or at least SWGs unrealized potential, with the NGE, SWG did several things right along the lines of what he is talking about now. It had interrelated systems that made MADE the playerbase rely on each other and MADE different playstyles really valuable. Entertainers, crafters, resource gatherers all had a SIGNIFICANT place role and value in the game. In games like TOR, unless you are doing quests, or raids, what is there to do???? Nothing much. No social aspects. NONE.
The other thing SWG got right was player cities, the mayor system, and Player city pvp GCW bases. These were strokes of genius that could have been truly brilliant if refined. The best times in that game were making your own community, nourishing the crafters that made people want to come to your city, and then defending your city from invaders, or attacking neighboring cities. It was great. And it was all PLAYER driven. Now, it wasn't perfect, and later they came up with good ways to get rid of dead housing...but the player city landscape made servers FEEL different, look different, and play different. Players could own part of the world and impact it. Most games today have completely lost that concept. Too bad EQ Next will still be a crap generic fantasy MMO with no solid IP behind it...
The word sandbox gets thrown around so much these days it doesn't even have meaning to me anymore. Everyone seems to think their game is sandbox gameplay and delivers exactly what every other MMO does.
It's a mythical term from a day of gaming long gone where the game was so devoid of content and quests (Asheron's Call: here's your sword, go kill mobs. DAOC: here's your sword, go kill mobs, here's 2 quests per level) that you needed to invent your own fun thus giving birth to the whole idea of sandbox MMOs.
it's not that many companies are not trying the sandbox route, it's that when they do, they make them with open world pvp with usually player looting, which turns people like me off to the whole game.
For some reason they do not see fit to include PVE servers, nor the PVE community that enjoys sandbox games without the fear of getting ganked and looted and having to start all over again.
Comments
Idk what they are dangling, but right now, add combat to eqn:l then stand back.
There's a foundation here, the likes of which the genre has not seen. They have reason and room to talk atm.
I think Smedly must have chimed in on MMORPG's heated discussions on these topics, he gets them right so well.
In FFXIV we ran out of stuff to do and lost purpsose of doing thigns in the world. Which Ultimately made me quit the game. Same can be said of every MMO out there that we burned though and found absolutly nothing to do afterwards but stand around in a city with nothing else rewarding to do in the game world.
Smedley knows his job, he knows it well, he is a genius to read what players want expecially on forums like MMORPG. I wish he would have KNOWN these things when EQOA as still out, and given us something more to do then Grind EYEBALLS for 5 years straight without any new camps to grind on, it wasn't until the game was almost completely dead before he got around to putting a penny into it.
Thing is, Smedley might know the PSYCHOLOGY OF THE PLAYERS really well, but he lacks the development vision to go after ALL STYLES of players. I have yet to see a single game made by SOE that can satisfy ALL PLAYERS which he talks about doing in his great speech and accurate statements.
I like X kind of games, I don't like X kind of games, I like realistic graphic, I don't like realistic graphics, I like sandbox, I dotn like sandbox, I like theme park, I don't like themepark, I like voice overs, I don't like voice overs, I like storylines, I don't like storylines, I like grinding, I don't like grinding, I like quests, I don't like quests, I like long progression, I like short progression, I like solo, I dont like solo, I like group play, I dont like group play, you get the point! Cant please them all!
I WONT BELEIVE IT TILL I SEE IT!
I loved a lot of past SOE games, the problem is they have always only delivered on half a vision. The first half, and the second half is neglected tot he point people leave the games they create. I hate this part of SOE games the most. When you want content and a company fails to deliver even an update or expansion that will keep that game alive for years to come, it tends to really hurt your image of a company like SOE.
4 games shutting down, 2 major ones previously EQOA and SWG, with no updates or new titles in those. And the reason they are being shut down is because no content was added to the games to keep players in the game. Its a trend I tend to hate with SOE. I hope they give more attn. to EQ Next Landmark and EQ Nex then they have to their past titles.
Your right about one thing "talk is cheap". But you see... the thing is...
There is an Alpha right now, rightly or wrongly you can purchase access (according to your financial analysis SOE is not being greedy for selling alpha access, they are in dire need of the funding). It has no NDA, information is freely available. The alpha is a lot of fun, the engine is amazing, it's a lot more then talk. There is nothing but enthusiasm and optimism from people playing the alpha.
It's just simply well made and fun and the real potential (not pipe dreams) just smacks you in the face.
I don't know if Sony repossessed your family farm or something? You sure seem to have some sort of axe to grind.
Is Sony going to fold? About as much chance of that as GE, or Nestle folding. Will Sony close the doors on SOE? Na... if they want out , they'll sell the division and someone would snap it up.
I haven't experienced a more promising MMORPG since I played WoW beta.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Once upon a time a number of rocking devs migrated from working on the granddaddy of mmorpgs, Ultima Online (the first successful mmo and it was a sandbox, gee imagine that) to work on a title that would become the epitome of sandboxes, Star Wars Galaxies.
How unique a title! Every item was made by the players and rarely were there two identical items. There were tailors, there were people who did nothing but hunt for, and set up extractors on, the very best of material spawns in the game world. Something which had to be repeated because resources would shift quality and amount forcing miners to pick up everything and move. The guild I was in, TPE, our city on Naboo. My God the planning that went into that. First just the coordination between our American and Euro players had us set up with relays to ensure that Jebu could get to the spot we had picked out expediently (there were a limit to the number of cities you could place on a planet). The way that town was laid out, we had better organization to our town than the devs did with their npc cities lol.
We hosted tournaments, our crafters had sales and give aways that would have a hundred players lined up waiting for their turn. Every house was placed with care and attention to detail. We even had houses set up for future guildies to move in without having to go through the hassle of finding a spot that didn't mess up the design.
Hell, it was so indepth that people basically apprenticed under great crafters to learn how to make things like the Fatal-One- Fancypants FWG-5's, with the apprentice becoming masters like Bzzt.
Not only was it a complete sandbox, but there were little theme parks with quest lines, nifty rewards and it all tied in to the timeline of the game exquisitely.
Was the game perfect? Well I am sure that anyone that got hunted by a pack of gurrecks or sat in the basement of a locked bunker with people throwing mind poisons through walls, doors and floors to kill you would say far from it.
Rather than FIX the problems that they created by forcing out individuals like Raph Koster they, SOE, continued to make things worse. When I had been disconnected from the server for the last time as I sat there with a dozen other creature handlers playing with our pets and saying goodbye bugs from launch were still present.
What was Smedley's idea? NO ONE WANTS TO BE UNCLE BEN OR AUNT BERU. THAT ISN'T STAR WARSY. EVERYONE WANTS TO BE LUKE OR HAN.
Destroy the sand box to force a themepark over the top of it.
Eff Smedley
Eff SOE.
So, after what a decade, you now want to sing a different story?
To no one but a fraud and liar is "I would have done things differently" equitable to an apology or the taking of responsibility.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
If you aren't actively part of the solution, you have no right to complain about anything.
Congrats, you've just achieved "The most pointless statement of the day" award.
The sky is falling.... The sky is falling....
k dude
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
I am still deeply "wait 'n see" on this but I can't ignore the irony that SOE, the company that deliberately destroyed the greatest sandbox MMO of our time, should come to the conclusion that sandbox is the future of MMOs and seek to lead the way.
I also get the irony that many who swore they would never return to SOE but found nothing on the market deserving of their money and time, may find it necessary to reluctantly return. And I include myself here.
You just described, in detail, an intelligent, experienced businessman. Did you forget that this is a business after all? Did you know that in order to be in the business, you need to make a game that is fun enough for people to commit to? Did you know it costs money to make a game, and the more money you make/save the more successful your business is? Making intelligent choices/partnerships to achieve this goal is something to admire, because when all is said and done, if he is successful, we have an awesome game to play and support... how he does it shouldn't matter to you.
I hate being so pessimistic, but SOE and even Mr. Smedley himself doesn't have the best track record.
What I imagine EQN could be is quite grand.
What it will actually be?
We will see...
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I remain mystified myself, and I haven't seen any statement from SOE regarding why they chose to make such a style departure. I still think it looks like a Lucas Arts adventure game or a teen-age Free Realms. For many of us, graphics are the most important aspect of immersion. Other aspects of the game are important for challenge or entertainment, but graphics are a huge part of immersion. This is even more important in a game where players are expected to create much of their own content.
While any art style can be potentially immersive, if you happen to respond to realistic character graphics like I do, then you appear to be out of luck with EQN and Landmark. For the record, I also found WOW graphics immersive and the caracters were cartoonish, but not puffy faced/big eyed cute. Still keeping an eye on the game as it has some interesting features.
Regarding the sandbox idea. I like freedom in a game and have always been an explorer, quester, and crafter, rather than heavy into combat and leveling. Even so, I'm leery of a game with too much dependance on players to generate the games content. There's no question there are players capable of creating great content, but the opposite is also true, and a player wanting to experience the content has to wade through both. There's something to be said for professionally created encounters. This in my case, means interesting storylines and quest conversations, something I don't see being talked about much.
LOL, that was my first thought too. Expect SOE has a lot of catching up to do.
So what your saying is that SoE and Smedley hurt you so deep that you wish you never had played the game at all?Na... my prior post was quoted just above yours, reader's have already seen it a couple times. I will paste it back in to appease you and so everyone can once again read how ridiculous my prior post was, These chains do tend to get quite large.
cheers
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Yep, they are building it like Mindcraft, talking about it like it's Second Life, yet using Eve as the example of how it will be.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Post history tells all
We'll have to pewpew another day
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Smile
Yes, games like TOR can never, ever keep their themeparks full of new stuff at the rate of player burn through. It is so obvious. Damon Schubert wrote in a blog post about a year before release that TOR/BW understood that making a star wars game into a pure themepark would be a disaster, because it would waste the richness of a mythos where players would want to login in, interact in a community, and just "live" in the space. He PROMISED a game that would take the best of the themepark model and sandbox model, along with a FOCUS on community. I am STILL waiting for that game. A beloved IP where the ink is dry on the mythos. Themepark and sandbox community building elements, such as player housing, player cities, and in game meta systems. And then BW turned around and made a damn pure themepark game anyway. And it crashed and burned. One of the WORST things about the game is that servers are essentially interchangeable...players MAKE NO mark on their world. Nothing converys ownership and a long term feeling of attachment like "owning" a piece of the world.
Now, before smedley destroyed SWG, or at least SWGs unrealized potential, with the NGE, SWG did several things right along the lines of what he is talking about now. It had interrelated systems that made MADE the playerbase rely on each other and MADE different playstyles really valuable. Entertainers, crafters, resource gatherers all had a SIGNIFICANT place role and value in the game. In games like TOR, unless you are doing quests, or raids, what is there to do???? Nothing much. No social aspects. NONE.
The other thing SWG got right was player cities, the mayor system, and Player city pvp GCW bases. These were strokes of genius that could have been truly brilliant if refined. The best times in that game were making your own community, nourishing the crafters that made people want to come to your city, and then defending your city from invaders, or attacking neighboring cities. It was great. And it was all PLAYER driven. Now, it wasn't perfect, and later they came up with good ways to get rid of dead housing...but the player city landscape made servers FEEL different, look different, and play different. Players could own part of the world and impact it. Most games today have completely lost that concept. Too bad EQ Next will still be a crap generic fantasy MMO with no solid IP behind it...
The word sandbox gets thrown around so much these days it doesn't even have meaning to me anymore. Everyone seems to think their game is sandbox gameplay and delivers exactly what every other MMO does.
It's a mythical term from a day of gaming long gone where the game was so devoid of content and quests (Asheron's Call: here's your sword, go kill mobs. DAOC: here's your sword, go kill mobs, here's 2 quests per level) that you needed to invent your own fun thus giving birth to the whole idea of sandbox MMOs.
it's not that many companies are not trying the sandbox route, it's that when they do, they make them with open world pvp with usually player looting, which turns people like me off to the whole game.
For some reason they do not see fit to include PVE servers, nor the PVE community that enjoys sandbox games without the fear of getting ganked and looted and having to start all over again.