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Star Wars: The Old Republic, a cautionary tale of breaking into MMOs | Massively Yeah, sounds exactly like VG. It was more than 10 years ago, but you might prefer to consider Anarchy Online as a starting point. Of course, Funcom still exists. Blizzard? Hah. Blizzard has a history of...

There's no wah, wah. These are facts. Apply whatever value you want to them. They are relevant to what Brad wants to do now. Mostly because a lot of people looking for an EQ experience now were among those looking for it with Vanguard. Therefore when analyzing the failings of Brad's KS, one...

Which games launched as bad as VG? Which producer lied as much as Brad? The common MMO story is probably more analogous to BF4 right now.

It's fair. Backers aren't contributing an average of $125 out of good will alone. I bet most are delusional enough to expect a return.

He fucked us over by lying. He misrepresented the state of both Vanguard and Sigil and launched the game in an unfinished, largely unplayable state. He did so because Sigil was not healthy; it was out of money. Fans didn't just buy Vanguard, they invested in it. A lot of those fans were...

Again, the issue is trust. If Brad had disappeared after leaving SOE in 2001 and reappeared in 2014 with a KS scribbled on a napkin and nothing else, this thing would be funded. Because he made some very bad mistakes, he has to show that he's not that guy anymore. Instead, he's come to us...

The big issue with Brad is trust. This would be another successful nostalgic KS lovefest if Brad didn't already horribly fuck over hundreds of thousands of his fans while the others were watching. To overcome this objection, IMO, something tangible is required. He needed engineers and artists...

I know it was really bad of me, but for the entirety of that long interview, I couldn't help but to think Brad sounded a bit high.

I was being sarcastic. Please excuse my poor sense of humor. I can't find the quote, but I seem to recall Brad saying something similar about not being kickstarter experts.

They're game designers, not market researchers.

You don't think diehard fans of classic EQ are potential customers of Pantheon? I disagree. According to a poll on project1999.com, only 3% have not previously played classic EQ. 91% played during SOV or before. This is exactly who Brad is looking for. There are around 3K online...

EQ emulators are literally free to play. Authorized or not. Thousands of potential Pantheon customers currently make use of this option. Lots have settled in other FTP games too.

Untrue. Many are into the eq emu free to play option.

According to my very very rough 2 minute estimates, with a monthly sub fee of $20, at 20K there is about 1.6M left per year to repay investors, at 50K there is about 6.7M. $370K/1.5M for game sales @ $60 minus estimated pre-orders, free months, and transaction fees. Lifetime subs not...

Not when you factor in the costs: - ongoing development - customer service [incl billing, fraud, in-game, bans etc] - hosting - operations - facilities - payment processing - free months - KS prepurchases - marketing - middleware royalties - etc That sub revenue is eaten fast. I...

I sort of think the opposite. I think brad's 20-50K sub base estimate is accurate and there for all to see. Including those in the gaming industry. They would love our money. It just isn't viable--based on how they make games--yet. I can imagine a more dynamic team--young staff, lots of...

There's no way a 5-10 Million dollar game requiring ongoing development, operations, facilities and customer service costs is getting post-KS funding for a projected 20-50K subs @ $60/copy and $15/month. Especially when that successful KS pre-sold 7K copies. They don't have a business plan...

I like the game they're describing, but the fundamental issues remain: Trust and a vague post-KS plan. The more they flesh out the game, the more I question whether they can afford to build it. I would be better assured by less variety. It all sort of sounds like Brad's RTS city building...

I don't recall the hitching being a big issue for me. It's not ideal, but it's nowhere close to game breaking. What killed VG was its launch. It was pushed out the door completely unstable for most users. It did not become stable for most users until 8-10 months after its launch...

I advocated a strategic retreat and relaunch until: It may not be an option.

I'm not talking about turning VG into the next big thing. I don't think an RPG needs cutting edge graphics. I don't think the hitching is catastrophic. The fundamental mechanics exist to make an EQ-like experience with better graphics. Before the game was completely trivialized, level 40...

I agree. That's what I thought in 05-2007. It's such a horrible waste. A very good game can be made from it. A rebalancing sweep alone could make the game many here are looking for.

I feel like this game can still be fixed. What a waste.

Someone start a kickstarter to buy VG from SOE and hire VR to finish it according to the values expressed for Pantheon.

Why warrior? These are Role Playing Games at heart. We play characters. Even (some) jaded uberguilds had the dorf who said aye and drank ale for 5-10 years. Some people play classes and races in RPGs they like the idea of, not for pure gameplay. Some people want to be a holy avenger; others...

Thanks team! My current theory is they spent 4 months collecting cans to pay for the Unity store models.

EQ was difficult in the sense that it was punishing. Failure resulted in significant setbacks. There was potential for catastrophic setbacks (corpse rot, deleveling). That was the risk. For me, the reward came in the form of greater intensity. At times, my heart pounded. I felt real fear...

Starcraft is so awesome, why have Age of Empires, right? As a genre defining game with no immediate competition, EQ had a captive audience among its fans. Naturally, those captive or simply played-out moved to other games that better suited them as they became available. It sounds like...

Brad should have hired a film crew to document his progress. Pantheon the MMO may not get made, but Pantheon the reality show would be a hit. Edit: Is he the David Brent of MMOs?

In the context of gaming, I read engineers as software engineers. There's a difference between a software engineer and a coder. A software engineer is trained to perform the same kind of due diligence that a structural engineer would when building a bridge. Most of the work is actually...

Is there a market for a $10-30M pay to play EQ/VG hybrid built the old way? Probably not. Is there a market for a low budget title inspired by EQ/VG built by a small, extremely dedicated team? Definitely. Games can be made cheap; but not at the pace of 1999. I point to the 200k+ early...

Are you an engineer? You should join the Rerolled MMORPG project.

4 months pre-KS development and 36 months of post-KS development = 40 months total.

I wonder how on-board the rest of the team actually it is. It's clear there's not four months worth of work here. Four months is about 10% of the total planned development period going back to Sept. I sort of get the feeling that some or all are on board when Brad can pay them to be.

I can contribute not as intended rebuttals, spar with the community and ban conquest. [hey, it was part of the eq experience]

Well, maybe the Rerolled MMORPG prototype gets built from this thread. If it's funded, do you hire Brad as a designer?

I suggest investing $20 in the Rust alpha to see the MMO potential first-hand. It's immediately apparent. The map is huge--though largely vacant. Even though it's an FPS, it's extremely immersive. Until you inevitably turn off the grass and jack up the gamma, that is.

I haven't looked into it very deeply. Apparently, it's very flexible. Rust is a mmofps that uses uLink. It currently supports 200+ users on a single server. I believe the plan is for much more. An mmorpg does not need to generate as much traffic as an mmofps - especially for an EQ...

uLink netcode middleware for Unity. Supports zones out of the box: MuchDifferent - Game - UnityPark Suite - Products - uLink

Actually, IMO, the problem is compelling and original content. You can do a lot of great things with only high level programming in Unity. There's also a large selection of middleware including MMO netcode. The MMO community has already developed server expertise via emulators. The pieces...