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Test
Head Merchant
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 67
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No surprise here. Game was a bad design from the beginning. By the time they tried to fix things, it was too late, it was already circleing the toilet bowl.
Now who wants the bet which one will be next, Lotr, or D&D online? Market can't support both of them, there's simply not enough interest. I would put my bet on D&D online being cancelled. Lotr online looks like it has a little more promise. |
Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:11 pm |
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Moriendor
Black Ring Leader
Joined: 19 Jul 2001
Posts: 1306
Location: Germany |
My money is on LotRO because the appeal of the movies will have long faded before this one sees the light of day. D&D Online has more potential IMHO because of the franchise and all the P&P'ers who might be tempted to give it a try.
Don't know... but I personally see less potential in LotRO for now... |
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Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:52 pm |
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Amparo
Guest
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I am more interested in how many of the current MMOG's are operating in the red and SHOULD be shut down.
Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Matrix, Everquest 2, Neocron, Planetside, Horizons, the list goes on. All of these gams cannot possibly be making a profit while paying a staff to keep them going. |
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Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:23 am |
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Test
Head Merchant
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 67
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I sort of agree with you Moriendor because I think it could go either way, one or the other will not make it in the end.
The problem I see with DDO is lack of pvp, and lack of exploring type rewards. (i.e. you go right from city to dungeon and back via portals I've read). Plus I hear that they are bypassing crafting also. It just sounds like it lacks depth where the Lotr game system (again, only from what I read) seems to have all that and more (well, maybe not the pvp part though, I'm not sure if they are including that...). Of course, DDO could end up being what people are looking at for a change, nice quick jump into a dungeon romp and back. There was an old old old Sierra online game that was like this, I can't remember the name, but you had the tavern, and the dungeon, and that was it.. heh. Was kinda fun, although it got boring quick, but was one of the early graphical online rpgs.
As to the other games.. I too wonder how some of them still operate, Anarchy Online might be getting by because they only need to support 3 servers. Matrix continues to combine servers and will be done by the end of the year. EQ2 and SWG? I think the money machine that is Sony will keep them alive a lot longer than they should be. EQ2 isn't that bad of a game imo, but without pvp I simply won't play it. Neocron, Planetside and Horizons I'm sure are on their last legs. |
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Fri Aug 26, 2005 1:45 pm |
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Deg
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 37
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quote:
Originally posted by Amparo
Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Matrix, Everquest 2, Neocron, Planetside, Horizons, the list goes on.
I don't know why you chose these specific names but both EQ2 and SWG have over 250.000 subscribers. I am sure they can operate the games on that.
In AC2's case there were no more then a few 100 online daily (saw that when playing a trial a couple of months ago) i guess that is a quite a difference with the others. Having the free trial and all i wouldn't be suprised if the subscriptions dropped below the 10,000 in the end. You might want to take a look here if you want to see some numbers. |
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Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:52 pm |
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yeesh
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 113
Location: Unofficially representing Queens |
This is completely groundless and stupid to even bring up, but I remember reading somewhere maybe 18 months ago that EverQuest at the time still had failed to turn a profit, but without some kind of actual proof why would I say such a stupid thing? Still, let's keep in mind that subscriptions don't mean profitability. Look at the auto world, where GM racks up sales numbers that might even boggle Bill Gate's mind but still posts a loss quarter after quarter. But whatever, I don't know much about these things.
But I do know something about DDO, and I am less optimistic about it's prospects than I once was. The game is going out of it's way both to eschew MMO conventions and (yet) to streamline Dungeons and Dragons playing, making for a game which may have trouble appealing to anyone.
No crafting
No mounts
No property / No world really
Quest-only experience (which means forced partying)
TEN levels?
No PVP
No monster loot
OK, so hardcore D&D fans are thrilled to get rid of all the trappings and focus on the core D&D experience. Except here comes:
SPELL POINTS?
Real-time combat, complete with blocking and dodging
Simplified positioning / No friendly fire (throw all the fireballs you want)
The bottom line is that it was a tricky proposition from the beginning. What nobody seems to understand (and I mean nobody) is that the "core" of the PnP D&D experience, the part that makes it fun, is getting together with a bunch of friends and having a ball. That's awesome, but the problem here is that WE'VE BEEN DOING THAT ONLINE SINCE THE FRICKIN VERY FIRST MMO CAME OUT, AND THERE'S NOTHING UNIQUELY D&D ABOUT IT. Seriously, complain about the leveling, people on the boards will say "D&D isn't about leveling", mention the lack of crafting, "D&D isn't about crafting", mention anything, "D&D isn't about uber looot, D&D isn't about making min/maxing, D&D isn't about <insert anything here that makes MMOs compelling>". So really, all DDO can bring to the table are the trappings of D&D, most of which we've seen before. Orks, yeah those are new. Elementals, Paladins, Rangers, Magic Missile, magic swords, Plate Mail +3, you know these concepts have already been very, very well-digested by the MMO players, and it's been that way for years. DDO will have them all with exactly the correct D&D names, but that's about it.
I have nothing but respect for Turbine, by the way, and I think Asheron's Call was stat-laden genius. But with DDO, I think their vision of trying to stick as best they can to a rules set designed for weekly adventures of tabletop battles will end up making for a very niche game. Then again, I'm just a big old pessimist.
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A game is an RPG to the extent that it is focused on developing the power of your character(s). |
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Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:53 pm |
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Amparo
Guest
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quote:
Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Matrix, Everquest 2, Neocron, Planetside, Horizons, the list goes on.
quote:
I don't know why you chose these specific names but both EQ2 and SWG have over 250.000 subscribers. I am sure they can operate the games on that.
I mentioned SWG and EQ2 spefically due to production costs versus subscriber base.
I do not know the details but can you imagine what it costs to license the Star Wars franchise? You know, Lucasarts pulled out of that project so Sony has to pay full licensing rights.
EQ2 advertises heavily. They use Hollywood voice talent. The production values are top notch and it shows. I think they need to do more than just get by on 250,000 subscribers. And those numbers seem dubious. Star Wars fans do not necessarily play monthly fee games and there are not 250,000 MMORPG fans who think SWG is a good game. Camelot has a some die hard fans and they peaked at 13,000 when I looked.
As was mentioned, the Sony coffers will keep them alive longer than they should.
I forgot to mention Dark Age of Camelot. A game that had huge potential and did so many things right in the beginning. I was browsing the main site and noticed 10 servers with less than 100 people logged on. One server had 54 people. Worldwide population: 13,000. How can this be profitable? |
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Sat Aug 27, 2005 12:41 am |
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Hedek
Head Merchant
Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 50
Location: France |
The numbers displayed on the DAoC official site are the number of concurrent online players : people online at that time, the number of subscribers is a much bigger number.
_________________
Retired Editor @ RPGDot
Ex Guru @ HK's Torment (dead Planescape Torment fansite) |
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Sat Aug 27, 2005 1:36 am |
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