Comments on: Daily Blogroll 5/13 — Going Rogue edition

By: Tipa

Tipa — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:41:14 +0000

Well, sure, SB was a sandbox pvp game. Darkfall and EVE Online have trod the same path, and to apparently greater success than Shadowbane achieved. but, 250K subs? That’s not a failure, that’s a wild success in my book, especially for an indie MMO.

What I remember about SB (I didn’t play but I did follow) was the rampant asshattery show toward EQ players, like myself, which didn’t entice many of us into playing. I played DAoC around the same time, and the mood there was that the game was really unbalanced. My gut feeling is that SB didn’t really grow the market enough to find its niche.

The ex-Wolfpack folks have hit it out of the park with W101, though. I think it’s weirdly ironic that a kids MMO was built with lessons learned from a hardcore adult pvp sandbox game.

By: Konrad Knox

Konrad Knox — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:59:34 +0000

You know, there was only one MMO RPG that never had a problem with a boredom factor, and never had people quit because there was nothing else to do – that’s Wolfpack’s / Ubisoft’s Shadowbane. The game had other problems, bugs, poor management, but the game design and planning of actual player interaction with environment, and most of all, ability to influence, affect, and CHANGE the world, reshape the map, and craft their names into territories – were excellent. Needless to say, Shadowbane only had 250 000 population at its peak, and never reached popularity, but it was an excellent game, and I hope the new emulator restores the Play To Crush mojo back.

By: Razakius

Razakius — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:17:29 +0000

You know I’ve never particularly cared for the “well X number of people like the so it must be good.” It rarely proves right. By that logic, McDonald’s is the best restaurant in the world, Walmart is the best store, Old Navy has the best clothes, American Idol is the best TV show, Titanic is the best film, and Mario Brothers is the best game of all time. Now I don’t know about anyone else but none of these is true (Mario is about the closest one that is). In reality, what tends to be the most popular tends to be the lowest common denominator… McDonald’s is one of the worst places to eat, Wal-Mart is one of the worst places to shop, Old Navy has the worst clothes, American Idol may not be the worst show, but it certainly is down there and so on. By this logic I’d say that World of Warcraft has rightfully earned its name as the worst MMO and the fact that X million people subscribe to it.

And btw, if it is so good because of the number of subscribers, then Maple Story is that much better because they have over 92 million, so suck on it WoW fanboys, you are small potatoes. (and yes maple story numbers are inflated, but so are WoW numbers so they likely equal out.)

By: Saylah

Saylah — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:28:05 +0000

Nothing wrong with that but I was wondering. W101 is so restrictive because of their audience I doubted seriously that they’d let players in and out of each others homes at will. Since I had very few “friends” in the game and there is no crafting, I don’t know that I’d be inspired to farm house items that 99.9% of the time, only I’d ever see. For me personally, there’s not as much fun in that scenario. I’d probably just decorate my dorm room and call it a day.

By: Quantize

Quantize — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:52:43 +0000

What’s wrong with having no specific purpose for housing other than good old fashion fun?

Why does there have to be a purpose for everything? I just want to decorate my house, invite my friends, and have a place to chat, and play with cool items. I think FUN is a satisfactory purpose.

By: Tipa

Tipa — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:07:27 +0000

Well, LotRO player housing is cripplingly expensive, very difficult to get to if you are not the owner, and if you just want to visit someone’s home, it requires a major effort. LotRO’s housing is nothing more than a money sink. At least W101 houses you can teleport to and your friends can teleport to join.

As for the purpose of houses? Probably a money sink in W101 as well, but also a place for trophies for your journey through the spiral, at least if it’s your first time through when quest rewards include house items.

By: Saylah

Saylah — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:56:24 +0000

@Myrix – Didn’t know that had that program. I will check into it. If it’s not something where you have to play together that might work out for me. My gaming time is almost zero right now. When I do play it’s at very odd hours – a bit here and there. Thanks for the info.

By: Lukasz

Lukasz — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:49:27 +0000

LOTRO had player housing for a while already and it seems that those areas are mostly deserted ghost towns.
Either it is not worth the price/time to maintain or nobody wants it :)

By: Myrix

Myrix — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:00:18 +0000

@Saylah: If you refer a friend to EQ2 to get the triple experience you could have a level 50 character in a matter of days, almost by accident. A friend and I tried it and it was so fast that it actually sort of ruined my enjoyment of the game. However, if you’re someone who just wants to be that level asap, it might work out fine for you.

By: Sente

Sente — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:50:35 +0000

I do care about the plot in CoX and the game has some great stories. But like in most MMOs it can be slightly difficult to enjoy in fast-paced teams, since the story telling mechanics are not as well developed for the format as it could have been.

Blowing up stuff is fun, but still needs some context to keep it fun.